如何寻找超级成长股？世界首富24封股东信“吐露天机”：现金流比利润更重要(19)

Cash flow statements often don‘t receive as much attention as they deserve。 Discerning investors don’t stop with the income statement。
我们最重要的财务指标是每股自由现金流。
Our Most Important Financial Measure: Free Cash Flow Per Share
亚马逊的财务重点是增强每股现金流的长期增长。亚马逊自由现金流的增长是通过增加运营利润、有效管理运营资本和资本开支。我们通过提升客户方方面面的体验来扩大销售和极力压低成本来增加运营利润。
Amazon.com‘s financial focus is on long-term growth in free cash flow per share.Amazon.com’s free cash flow is driven primarily by increasing operating profit dollars and efficiently managing both working capital and capital expenditures。 We work to increase operating profit by focusing on improving all aspects of the customer experience to grow sales and by maintaining a lean cost structure。
对亚马逊来说关注自由现金流并非新鲜事。我们在1997年致股东的信里就说过如果在漂亮的会计报表和最大化每股现金流折现之间做出选择的话，我们选择自由现金流。我们一如既往地附上1997年致股东的信，希望当前和潜在的股东都能好好看看。
This focus on free cash flow isn‘t new for Amazon.com。 We made it clear in our 1997 letter to shareholders—our first as a public company—that when “forced to choose between optimizing GAAP accounting and maximizing the present value of future cash flows， we’ll take the cash flows。” Im attaching a copy of our complete 1997 letter and encourage current and prospective shareowners to take a look at it。