Bruce Berkowitz
Count the cash. Then check what has to be paid out of it.
| Measure | Formula | Median | Middle half | Reporting it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free cash flow | Operating cash flow − capital expenditure | $746.10m | $87.12m – $2.61bn | 526 |
| Owner earnings | Net income + depreciation & amortisation − capital expenditure | $632.00m | $11.63m – $2.14bn | 514 |
| Interest cover | Operating income ÷ interest expense | 4.43x | 2.16x – 9.09x | 429 |
Where each comes from
| Free cash flow | The stated starting point — free cash flow rather than reported earnings, which he has repeatedly described as the number that matters. |
|---|---|
| Owner earnings | The same question asked a second way: what could be taken out without shrinking the business. |
| Interest cover | What the business owes, measured against what it earns to service it — the check on whether the cash is really free. |
Source: Fairholme Funds shareholder letters and annual reports.
What this cannot tell you
He has concentrated heavily in businesses others were selling, which is a judgement about the price and the panic, not a property of the accounts.
This page describes a published method and applies its measures to filings. It is not a score, not a ranking and not a recommendation, and no page here aggregates these into a verdict. · All 11 metrics