Scorpio Tankers Inc. (STNG) Cash Flow Statement

The ratio has oscillated materially, which suggests that reported net income is heavily influenced by non-cash items, timing of voyage revenue recognition, or non-operating gains rather than purely by cash generation. Between 2025Q1 and 2025Q3 operating cash flow exceeded net income by a wide margin, which may reflect working capital release or non-cash charges, and investors should monitor whether this relationship normalizes as rates move. The recent sub-1.0 conversion in 2026Q1 and 2026Q2 warrants closer examination of accruals before treating reported earnings as a clean measure of cash economics.

The 2026Q2 free cash flow peak appears to have been driven by a rate environment that is unlikely to be fully repeatable, and the 2026Q3 compression suggests the company's cash generation is tightly linked to the freight cycle. Free cash flow margins across the ten-quarter window have ranged from roughly 18% to over 70%, implying that a single-quarter snapshot could materially overstate or understate the underlying earning power. Analysts may find it more informative to evaluate trailing averages rather than the peak quarter when judging sustainable cash generation.

Capex as a share of revenue has been volatile, which suggests the company's spending is driven by discrete vessel acquisitions or dry-dock cycles rather than a steady maintenance run-rate. Depreciation and amortization of roughly $35-47M per quarter provides a rough benchmark for replacement needs, and capex exceeding this level in recent quarters may indicate fleet expansion or renewal rather than pure maintenance. Distinguishing growth from maintenance capex would require more detail than the supplied data provides.

The magnitude of working capital movements relative to operating cash flow suggests that quarterly cash generation is substantially influenced by timing of receivables and voyage-related payables rather than by underlying operating efficiency. Large inflows, such as the 2024Q3 release, may not repeat and could flatter the apparent cash conversion in those periods. Investors should view single-quarter operating cash figures with caution and assess the cumulative effect of working capital over multiple quarters.

The steady dividend outflow relative to free cash flow suggests the payout is set against a longer-run cash expectation, but the sharp drop in free cash flow in 2026Q3 would have consumed a large share of that quarter's cash generation. Acquisitions in 2024Q2 and 2026Q1 appear to have been funded partly from operating cash, and their cash returns are not yet visible in the supplied data. Whether capital deployment remains sustainable through a downcycle warrants further investigation.