Over the last couple of years, there has been a lot of talk about the importance of free cash flow (FCF). And for good reason. 

A business that generates consistently positive FCF has more cash coming in than going out -- which matters in a rising interest rate environment where borrowing costs are higher.

FCF isn't perfect. But it can be a more useful metric to follow than a company's net income for a number of reasons. For example, a large expense may be depreciated over several periods using net income. But for FCF, it would show up at once as a large charge. In this vein, FCF does a good job of showing if a company's operational costs, dividend, share buyback program, and other costs are being funded with cash from the business or using other means.

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Source Fool.com