COP’s Cash Returns Trail Free Cash Flow by $631 Million
ConocoPhillips’ third-quarter dividends and buybacks were below its defined free cash flow; asset-sale proceeds and the new dividend belong to separate cash-flow questions.
The Bureau / Financial statements, explainedBeyond
Beyond
the yield.
Learn to read the numbers
behind the dividend.
Read how businesses earn, invest and return cash. Explore REITs, BDCs and operating companies through clear guides, transparent tools and real filings.
Open access. Linked sources. No account required.
Business → Financial statements → Common shareholderEvidence before inference.
- The learning library
- 36 REIT + 16 BDC guides
- The numbers desk
- 16 free tools
- The reference shelves
- 25 REIT + 14 BDC terms
- Your starting point
- Four learning levels
Daily Brief
A short read on company filings, with the facts checked before publication.
3M’s $5.8 Billion Charge Comes With a Longer Cash Schedule
3M’s new PFAS settlement separates a present-value accounting charge from a conditional payment schedule extending through 2034.
KDP: Nine-month cash flow covers common dividends
Keurig Dr Pepper’s nine-month free cash flow exceeded common dividends, while other distributions, lease payments and current obligations remain relevant.
Before choosing a learning room
Start with the labels.
How stocks are classified
Understand how size, style, sector, structure and dividend policy describe different features of an investment.
Read the introduction →Tickers, exchanges, indexes, and ETFs
A beginner guide to stock-market labels: tickers, NYSE, Nasdaq, the S&P 500, ETFs and basic trading vocabulary.
Read the introduction →Ready to read company accounts? See how the three financial statements connect.
Choose the question, then the method
What are you trying to understand?
Can a property business fund its dividend?
Follow rent, recurring property spending, AFFO and refinancing. Start with the REIT curriculum or reproduce Realty Income’s historical filing.
Open the REIT filing lab →How much lending income arrives as cash?
Study NII, payment-in-kind income, credit marks and funding costs. Work through Ares Capital’s reported income and distribution denominator.
Open the BDC filing lab →Where did the business’s cash go?
Reconcile profit to operating cash, subtract capital spending, then follow dividends and buybacks. Compare scenarios and check an actual cash balance.
Try the Apple cash-flow exercise →An answer begins with a better question.
Find your next insight.
The curriculum / Four levels
Find your level →Depth, at your own pace.
Level 01 / 6 guides
Beginner
Build the foundation. Start with what a REIT owns, how a shareholder gets paid, and the difference between income and investment return.
Open learning path ↗Level 02 / 18 guidesIntermediate
Connect the business to the numbers. Read different property models, then follow the accounting bridge from property operations to common-share distributions.
Open learning path ↗Level 03 / 8 guidesAdvanced
Stress the assumptions. Move beyond a single ratio. Connect valuation, refinancing, per-share dilution and dividend funding across scenarios.
Open learning path ↗Level 04 / 4 guidesExpert
Make the research reproducible. Work through definition differences, joint-venture ownership, financing timing and competing interpretations in an evidence-led research memo.
Open learning path ↗The property atlasStart with what
Different buildings earn income in different ways. Net lease describes a contract structure and can apply to more than one property type. Open full-size illustration ↗Conceptual educational illustration; not company data. Image and source policy.
Start with what
the buildings do.
Different properties. Different contracts. Different demands on cash.
Explore the sectors →Three questions to begin
Explore the library →Build a clearer picture.
What does a REIT actually do?
Start with the assets, the income and the shareholder's claim. Then distinguish equity from mortgage REITs, and listed from non-traded or private REITs.
Start here ↗What makes a net lease different?
Who pays for the building, why tenant credit matters, and where a long lease can create risk.
Read the lease ↗FFO, AFFO and the cash in between.
Understand the reconciliation before comparing payout ratios, valuation multiples or dividend coverage.
Follow the numbers ↗Practice with primary evidence
All filing labs →Read a real filing. Rebuild the numbers.
Realty Income 2024: reconstruct AFFO and its payout ratio
Use the dated SEC reconciliation to rebuild AFFO, compare paid dividends with an annualized rate, and explain why aggregate and per-share payout ratios differ.
Work through the source →Ares Capital 2024: NII, Core EPS and the PIK denominator
Reconstruct reported NII, reconcile Core EPS, and aggregate PIK interest and dividends from a dated SEC filing before interpreting income coverage.
Work through the source →Apple: follow profit, cash and capital returns
Reconcile operating cash flow, subtract cash capital spending, distinguish buybacks from dividends, and check the actual cash balance.
Work through the source →From learning to a research note
Answer the next practical question.
REIT vs BDC: dividends, cash flow and risks
Compare US equity REITs and BDCs: AFFO vs NII, property and credit risks, NAV, and a worked example of two identical dividend yields.
Open the guide ↗Ex-dividend date vs record date vs payment date
Understand US dividend dates under T+1, ordinary cash-dividend entitlement, special-distribution exceptions and why dividend capture is not free income.
Open the guide ↗Dividend research worksheet for REITs and BDCs
Build a source-linked dividend research note: locate filing inputs, reconcile AFFO or NII, record risks, then download or print your worksheet.
Open the guide ↗The numbers desk / 16 calculation toolsPut your assumptions
Put your assumptions
to the test.
Change an input. Follow the arithmetic.
See what the model leaves out.
01 Dividend income ↗02 Reinvestment ↗03 AFFO payout & stress ↗04 FFO → AFFO bridge ↗05 Cap rate & NAV ↗06 Refinancing cost ↗07 Dividend total return ↗08 BDC NII, PIK & distribution worksheet ↗09 BDC PIK income ratios ↗10 BDC non-accrual: cost versus fair value ↗11 BDC price / NAV discount calculator ↗12 BDC debt / equity worksheet ↗13 REIT JV proportionate debt worksheet ↗14 Debt maturity ladder & liquidity worksheet ↗15 Preferred & common distribution bridge ↗16 Operating company cash-flow workbench ↗
Educational scenarios. No live prices. Your inputs stay in this browser tab.
From education to evidence
Research archive →Selected external publications.
Analysis by Jeong-Mo Goo. 20 research records from external publications. Latest external publication: .
CoreWeave’s $4.2B Private Offering And What It Changes
Principal raised, cash available after transaction costs and potential dilution are separate measures. The convertible financing adds capital while leaving deployment and settlement choices to subsequent disclosures.
Read on Benzinga
Published REIT working paper / No. 001Two REIT dividends.
Two REIT dividends.
Two different amounts
of room.
MAA and W. P. Carey, read on each issuer's own adjusted measure. The conclusion comes with the working papers behind it.
25 pages2 volumes8 reconciled schedules
Free with email. Includes the REIT Dividend Checklist.