Free cash flow remains highly erratic, swinging from a $120.8 million outflow in 2024Q4 to a $218.0 million inflow in 2026Q2, largely driven by unpredictable working capital changes.
| Cash from Operations | 845.22M | 866.94M | -58.08M | 230.79M | -148.25M | 109.57M | -124.31M |
| Operating CF Margin % | - | 38.58% | -3.25% | 19.61% | -24.99% | 43.49% | -134.99% |
| Operating CF Growth % | 249.76% | 1592.74% | -125.16% | 255.68% | -235.3% | 188.14% | - |
| Net Income | 10.58M | -14.11M | -84.67M | -207.89M | -139.09M | -122.31M | -109.52M |
| Depreciation & Amortization | 46.77M | 39.6M | 23.48M | 11.31M | 5.99M | 4.49M | 5.73M |
| Stock-Based Compensation | 95.38M | 183.94M | 112.21M | 154.23M | 26.86M | 97K | 71K |
| Deferred Taxes | -4.21M | -4.21M | 3.92M | -4.62M | 0 | 0 | -47K |
| Other Non-Cash Items | 139.28M | -52.31M | 23.57M | 25.19M | 5.11M | 53K | 84K |
| Working Capital Changes | 581.19M | 714.03M | -136.59M | 252.58M | -47.12M | 227.24M | -20.63M |
| Change in Receivables | 5.5M | 15.07M | -132.31M | -65.82M | -508K | -1.62M | 342K |
| Change in Inventory | -72.53M | -58.88M | 103K | -66.38M | -60.56M | -16.82M | -5.65M |
| Change in Payables | 69.76M | 96.9M | 65.27M | 41.41M | 41.53M | 22.17M | -4.81M |
| Cash from Investing | -220.24M | -350.74M | 156.48M | -299.46M | -17.95M | -12.17M | -5.06M |
| Capital Expenditures | -96.53M | -79.03M | -42.24M | -15.69M | -17.95M | -12.17M | -5.07M |
| CapEx % of Revenue | 3.84% | 3.52% | 2.36% | 1.33% | 3.03% | 4.83% | 5.51% |
| Acquisitions | -141.83M | -141.83M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Investments | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Other Investing | 70.12M | 0 | -2.14M | -5.57M | 0 | 0 | 12K |
| Cash from Financing | 428.66M | 668K | 371.04M | -24.1M | 362.45M | 0 | 100M |
| Debt Issued (Net) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Equity Issued (Net) | 433.06M | 4.86M | 257.99M | 0 | 384.67M | 0 | 100M |
| Dividends Paid | 0 | -1.18M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Share Repurchases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Financing | -4.4M | -3.01M | 113.05M | -24.1M | -22.22M | 0 | 0 |
| Net Change in Cash | 1.05B | 516.84M | 469.44M | -92.54M | 196.82M | 98.37M | -30.05M |
| Free Cash Flow | 748.68M | 787.91M | -102.45M | 209.47M | -166.2M | 97.4M | -129.38M |
| FCF Margin % | 29.74% | 35.07% | -5.73% | 17.8% | -28.01% | 38.66% | -140.5% |
| FCF Growth % | 108.45% | 869.06% | -148.91% | 226.04% | -270.64% | 175.28% | - |
| FCF per Share | 5.57 | 7.25 | -1.07 | 3.26 | -3.07 | 1.92 | -2.55 |
| FCF Conversion (FCF/Net Income) | 70.74x | -51.19x | 4.31x | -9.67x | 1.88x | -0.90x | 1.14x |
| Interest Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Taxes Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Customer concentration and deployment
As reported in financial statements, Symbotic's operating cash flow frequently diverges from net income, with the OCF/NI ratio exhibiting extreme volatility, such as the -146.48x figure observed in 2025Q4, which suggests that reported earnings are currently poor proxies for the company's actual cash-generating capacity.
The significant disconnect between net income and operating cash flow indicates that accrual-based accounting, particularly regarding percentage-of-completion revenue recognition, dominates the headline figures. Investors should monitor whether this volatility persists as the company attempts to scale, as it may imply that cash collection cycles are highly sensitive to project milestone timing rather than steady operational performance.
Based on EDBL's reported figures, free cash flow margins have fluctuated wildly between -25.9% and 79.9% over the last ten quarters, illustrating that Symbotic's cash trajectory is tethered to the irregular timing of large-scale system deployments rather than consistent, predictable operational cash inflows.
The erratic nature of free cash flow suggests that the business model remains in a capital-intensive growth phase where cash generation is not yet decoupled from the heavy upfront costs of site installations. This inconsistency warrants further investigation into whether the company can achieve sustainable positive FCF without relying on the lumpy milestone payments characteristic of its current customer base.
According to recent SEC filings, Symbotic's working capital changes have been the primary driver of cash flow variance, with a massive $468.0 million inflow in 2025Q4 contrasting sharply with a $177.7 million outflow in 2025Q3, highlighting the extreme sensitivity of liquidity to project-based billing cycles.
These dramatic swings in working capital suggest that the company's cash position is highly vulnerable to the timing of customer payments and the management of inventory for large-scale deployments. Analysts should interpret these fluctuations as a sign that the company's cash flow is currently more a function of project accounting than underlying operational efficiency.
Based on the provided financial data, Symbotic consistently utilizes stock-based compensation, reaching as high as $49.4 million in 2025Q3, which effectively masks the true economic cost of operations and complicates the assessment of the company's underlying cash burn rate for institutional investors.
The reliance on equity-based incentives suggests that the company is preserving cash by substituting stock for cash compensation, a common practice in high-growth tech firms that may understate the true cost of talent. Investors should adjust for these non-cash expenses to determine the actual cash requirements needed to sustain the current engineering and deployment infrastructure.
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying SYM stock.
Symbotic Inc. (SYM) generated $866.9M in net cash from operating activities in 2025. This reflects the cash generated directly from core business operations.
Symbotic Inc. (SYM) generated $787.9M in free cash flow in 2025. Free cash flow is the cash left over after capital expenditures, which can be used to pay dividends, repurchase shares, or pay down debt.
Symbotic Inc. (SYM) spent $79.0M 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, Symbotic Inc. (SYM) returned $1.2M to shareholders via cash dividends. This shows the company's commitment to returning capital to its equity investors.