Operating Cash Flow Ratio
Calculate the operating cash flow ratio, a liquidity ratio that measures a company’s ability to pay off its current liabilities with its operating cash flow.
The operating cash flow ratio is calculated by dividing operating cash flow by current liabilities. It indicates whether a company’s operating cash flow is sufficient to cover its short-term obligations.
The formula is as follows:
\[\text{Operating Cash Flow Ratio} = \text{Cash Flow from Operations} / \text{Current Liabilities}\]Also known as: OCF ratio, cash liquidity.
Operating Cash Flow Ratio in Python or via the MCP
Install the Finance Toolkit with:
pip install financetoolkit -U
Then call get_operating_cash_flow_ratio as shown below.
from financetoolkit import Toolkit
toolkit = Toolkit(
["UNH", "CVS", "CI"],
api_key="FINANCIAL_MODELING_PREP_KEY",
start_date="2021-01-01",
end_date="2025-12-31",
)
toolkit.ratios.get_operating_cash_flow_ratio()
Or, after setting up the Finance Toolkit MCP, ask:
How well did the operating cash flow of UnitedHealth, CVS Health and Cigna cover their current liabilities from 2021 to 2025?
Which returns:
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CI | 0.165 | 0.21 | 0.2425 | 0.1787 | 0.1704 |
| CVS | 0.2694 | 0.233 | 0.1695 | 0.1076 | 0.12 |
| UNH | 0.2854 | 0.2937 | 0.2935 | 0.2332 | 0.1714 |
Parameters
get_operating_cash_flow_ratio accepts the following parameters.
| Parameter | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
rounding | int | None | The number of decimals to round the results to. Defaults to None, which uses the rounding of the Toolkit (4 unless set otherwise). | 2 |
growth | bool | Whether to calculate the growth of the ratios. Defaults to False. | True |
lag | int | list[int] | The lag to use for the growth calculation. Defaults to 1. | 4 |
compound | bool | Whether the growth is the compound annual growth rate over the lag (e.g. lag=5 for the five-year CAGR) instead of the total change. Defaults to False. | False |
standardize | bool | Whether to standardize (Z-Score) the result. When combined with growth=True, standardizes the growth values instead of the raw values. Defaults to False. | True |
trailing | int | The number of periods to sum flows (income and cash flow statement items) over, with balance sheet items averaged over the same number of period ends. E.g. 4 with quarterly data gives the trailing twelve months (TTM) and 3 with annual data a three-year cumulative figure. Defaults to None, which uses single-period flows (per quarter and not annualized with quarterly data). | 4 |