Cash flow generation is highly volatile and tied to the lending cycle, with FCF margins ranging from -105.1% to 50.8% over the past ten quarters, and recent massive shareholder returns of $3.1B in dividends in Q2 2026 appearing incongruous with historical negative FCF.
StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) cash flow statement — 10-year operating, investing & financing cash flows
| Metric | TTM | Dec'25 | Dec'24 | Dec'23 | Dec'22 | Dec'21 | Dec'20 | Dec'19 | Dec'18 | Dec'17 | Dec'16 |
|---|
| Cash from Operations | 4.82B | 663.28M | -3.62B | 1.65B | 1.68B | 3.61B | 56.48M | -2.65B | -2.42B | -1.28B | -493.4M |
| Operating CF Margin % | - | 4.69% | -28.43% | 14.5% | 18.67% | 78.81% | 1.78% | -110.97% | -157.92% | -173.19% | -116.59% |
| Operating CF Growth % | 451.67% | 118.32% | -319.78% | -2.14% | -53.32% | 6285.71% | 102.13% | -9.78% | -88.14% | -160.22% | - |
| Net Income | 3.31B | 2.31B | -1.51B | 1.6B | -526.4M | -1.38B | 837.45M | 804.2M | 305.2M | -104.97M | -122.19M |
| Depreciation & Amortization | 936.91M | 1B | 949.39M | 878.18M | 800.33M | 507.37M | 256.29M | 163.4M | 92.33M | 57.21M | 42.96M |
| Stock-Based Compensation | 70.11M | 0 | 232.67M | 251.24M | 213.08M | 113.17M | 31.51M | 30.79M | 46.1M | 138.94M | 53.06M |
| Deferred Taxes | -1.64B | -145.57M | -38.5M | 24.59M | -153.07M | -239.83M | 73.33M | 69.23M | -17.8M | 3.62M | -27.29M |
| Other Non-Cash Items | 8.97B | 7.88B | 7.62B | 2.3B | 2.48B | 3.3B | 629.84M | 891.36M | 421.27M | 173.94M | 29.19M |
| Working Capital Changes | -7.03B | -10.39B | -10.88B | -3.41B | -1.13B | 1.3B | -1.77B | -4.61B | -3.26B | -1.55B | -469.13M |
| Change in Receivables | 1.84B | -2.26B | -2.81B | 237.41M | 1.72B | -2.99B | -3.44B | -5.13B | -4.02B | -1.78B | -1.47B |
| Change in Inventory | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 286.77M | 0 | 131.4M | 18.51M | 3.14M |
| Change in Payables | -14.37B | -8.87B | 361.68M | -80.02M | 323.62M | 40.77M | 1.38B | -3.43M | 570.1M | 210.25M | 993.03M |
| Cash from Investing | 1.53B | -1.73B | 1.59B | -845.44M | -1.87B | -2.98B | -5.81B | -437.56M | -2.74B | -299.67M | 189.91M |
| Capital Expenditures | -1.02B | -1.17B | -764.48M | -736.24M | -417.73M | -1.08B | -455.1M | -333.57M | -185.7M | -162.26M | -43.1M |
| CapEx % of Revenue | 7.28% | 8.23% | 6% | 6.48% | 4.63% | 23.66% | 14.37% | 13.96% | 12.14% | 21.89% | 10.18% |
| Acquisitions | 3.19B | 16.06M | -194.62M | -37.81M | -121.06M | -4.78B | -291.85M | -16.79M | -7.4M | -1.22M | 6.6M |
| Investments | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Other Investing | -119.27M | 0 | -505.53M | -473.52M | -278.5M | -215.58M | 90.09M | -65.28M | 58.1M | 30.61M | 21.24M |
| Cash from Financing | -4.56B | 912.45M | 5.04B | -148.8M | -2.81B | 1.42B | 7.22B | 3.76B | 4.79B | 2.05B | 377.99M |
| Debt Issued (Net) | 1.26B | 4.16B | 2.88B | 151.37M | -2.46B | 2.18B | -769.04M | 3.76B | 738.95M | 2.03B | -104.87M |
| Equity Issued (Net) | -3.08B | -2.91B | -1.59B | -292.75M | 53.41M | -988.82M | 7.76B | -90K | -142.44M | -280.82M | 0 |
| Dividends Paid | -3.15B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Share Repurchases | -3.08B | -2.93B | -1.59B | -292.75M | 0 | -988.82M | -76.36M | -90K | -142.44M | -280.82M | 0 |
| Other Financing | 410.64M | -336.22M | 3.75B | -7.42M | -408.24M | 227.16M | 228.98M | -927K | 4.2B | 305.62M | 482.86M |
| Net Change in Cash | 2.11B | 184.68M | 3.05B | 663.81M | -2.98B | 2.05B | 1.48B | 670.41M | -344M | 471.31M | 87.11M |
| Free Cash Flow | 4.03B | -28.43M | -4.89B | 437.41M | 960.44M | 2.31B | -398.62M | -3.05B | -2.6B | -1.45B | -536.51M |
| FCF Margin % | 28.73% | -0.2% | -38.41% | 3.85% | 10.65% | 50.44% | -12.59% | -127.71% | -170.06% | -195.08% | -126.77% |
| FCF Growth % | 722.32% | 99.42% | -1218.66% | -54.46% | -58.39% | 679.06% | 86.94% | -17.32% | -79.87% | -169.56% | - |
| FCF per Share | 16.42 | -0.10 | -16.22 | 1.37 | 3.08 | 7.47 | -1.36 | -11.00 | -9.38 | -5.22 | -2.61 |
| FCF Conversion (FCF/Net Income) | 1.22x | 0.29x | 2.39x | 1.03x | -3.24x | -2.65x | 0.07x | -3.30x | -8.02x | 11.81x | 4.12x |
| Interest Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Taxes Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying STNE stock.
StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) generated $663.3M in net cash from operating activities in 2025. This reflects the cash generated directly from core business operations.
StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) reported negative free cash flow of $28.4M in 2025, indicating capital requirements exceeded cash from operations.
StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) spent $1.17B on capital expenditures in 2025. CapEx represents the cash invested in physical assets like property, plant, and equipment to maintain or grow the business.
In 2025, StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) spent $2.93B on share repurchases. This shows the company's commitment to returning capital to its equity investors.
Key Metrics
Top Statement Risk
Net margin compression from non-operating costs
Earnings Quality Masked by Volatile Working Capital
The relationship between net income and operating cash flow is highly erratic, with OCF/NI ratios swinging from -6.62 to 4.20 over ten quarters, suggesting that reported earnings are a poor proxy for underlying cash generation due to massive working capital swings.
The extreme volatility in the OCF/NI ratio, particularly the negative readings in 2024 and the sharp positive spike in 2026Q2, indicates that StoneCo's net income is heavily influenced by non-cash items and timing differences in its financial services operations. This pattern suggests that the quality of earnings is low, as the core business's profitability is obscured by the ebb and flow of receivables and payables related to its prepayment and lending activities. Investors should not rely on net income as a stable measure of cash generation for this company.
FCF Volatility Driven by Lending Cycle
Free cash flow has been deeply negative for multiple quarters, including a -$2.8B result in 2024Q1, but has recently surged to a $1.7B positive figure in 2026Q2, indicating a highly cyclical and unpredictable FCF trajectory tied to the company's credit operations.
The FCF margin has swung from -105.1% to +50.8% within two years, a pattern inconsistent with a stable software or payments business. This volatility appears directly linked to the expansion and contraction of StoneCo's lending book, where cash is consumed to fund merchant prepayments and is later recovered. The recent positive FCF trend may signal a successful deleveraging of the credit portfolio or a shift in strategy, but the historical pattern suggests any improvement could be temporary if the company re-engages in aggressive lending.
Massive WC Swings Signal Lending Activity
Working capital changes have been the dominant driver of operating cash flow, with quarterly swings ranging from a -$4.1B use in 2024Q1 to a +$684.8M source in 2026Q1, highlighting the capital-intensive nature of StoneCo's prepayment business.
The enormous negative working capital changes in 2024 and 2025 quarters represent cash being deployed to fund merchant receivables, which is the core of the prepayment service. The recent positive swing in 2026Q1 suggests a period of collection or a reduction in new lending, which freed up cash. This dynamic confirms that StoneCo's cash flow is fundamentally a function of its credit cycle management, not just its payment processing volumes, making it highly sensitive to merchant credit quality and Brazilian economic conditions.
Aggressive Shareholder Returns Amidst Cash Volatility
In 2026Q2, StoneCo deployed $3.1B in dividends and $776.7M in buybacks, a massive return of capital that appears incongruous with the company's recent history of negative free cash flow and strained balance sheet.
The sudden and large-scale capital return in 2026Q2, following quarters of minimal activity, suggests a strategic shift or a one-time distribution, possibly related to the Linx acquisition integration or a change in capital allocation philosophy. This aggressive return of capital, especially the $3.1B dividend, raises questions about the sustainability of such payouts given the volatile FCF profile and the elevated debt/equity ratio of 1.49. It may indicate management's confidence in future cash generation, but it also reduces the financial buffer available to absorb potential credit losses or fund future growth.
Cash Flow Obscured by Financial Engineering
The cash flow statement likely obscures the true economic cost of StoneCo's lending business, as the sale of receivables can generate positive operating cash flow while masking the underlying credit risk and funding costs embedded in the 'Financial Income' line.
A key counter-analysis is that StoneCo's operating cash flow can be artificially inflated by the securitization or sale of merchant receivables, which reclassifies a financing activity as an operating cash inflow. This practice can make the OCF/NI ratio appear healthier than the underlying business warrants. Furthermore, the capitalization of software development costs related to the Linx integration may understate true cash expenses, potentially flattering both operating cash flow and capital expenditure metrics. Analysts must scrutinize the notes to the financial statements to understand the true cash impact of these financial and accounting maneuvers.