what is cash flow from investing activities 
cash flow from investing activities cfi is one of the sections on the cash flow statement that reports how much cash has been generated or spent from various investment related activities in a specific period investing activities include purchases of physical assets investments in securities or the sale of securities or assets negative cash flow is often indicative of a company s poor performance however negative cash flow from investing activities might be due to significant amounts of cash being invested in the long term health of the company such as research and development understanding cash flow from investing activitiesbefore analyzing the different types of positive and negative cash flows from investing activities it s important to review where a company s investment activity falls within its financial statements there are three main financial statements the balance sheet income statement and cash flow statement the balance sheet provides an overview of a company s assets liabilities and owner s equity as of a specific date the income statement provides an overview of company revenues and expenses during a period the cash flow statement bridges the gap between the income statement and the balance sheet by showing how much cash is generated or spent on operating investing and financing activities for a specific period types of cash flowoverall the cash flow statement provides an account of the cash used in operations including working capital financing and investing there are three sections labeled activities on the cash flow statement operating activities include any spending or sources of cash that are involved in a company s day to day business activities any cash spent or generated from the company s products or services is listed in this section including cash generated or spent on financing activities shows the net cash flows involved in funding the company s operations financing activities include cash flows from investing activities provide an account of cash used in the purchase of non current assets or long term assets that will deliver value in the future investing activity is an important aspect of growth and capital a change to property plant and equipment ppe a large line item on the balance sheet is considered an investing activity when investors and analysts want to know how much a company spends on ppe they can look for the sources and uses of funds in the investing section of the cash flow statement capital expenditures capex also found in this section is a popular measure of capital investment used in the valuation of stocks an increase in capital expenditures means the company is investing in future operations however capital expenditures are a reduction in cash flow typically companies with a significant amount of capital expenditures are in a state of growth below are a few examples of cash flows from investing activities along with whether the items generate negative or positive cash flow if a company has differences in the values of its non current assets from period to period on the balance sheet it might mean there s investing activity on the cash flow statement example of cash flow from investing activitiesbelow is the cash flow statement from apple inc aapl according to the company s 10 q report issued on june 29 2019 the three sections of apple s statement of cash flows are listed with operating activities at the top and financing activities at the bottom of the statement highlighted in orange in the center are the investing activities highlighted in blue investing activities that were cash flow negative are highlighted in red and include investing activities that were cash flow positive are highlighted in green and include the net cash flows generated from investing activities were 46 6 billion for the period ending june 29 2019 overall apple had a positive cash flow from investing activity despite spending nearly 8 billion on new property plant and equipment as with any financial statement analysis it s best to analyze the cash flow statement in tandem with the balance sheet and income statement to get a complete picture of a company s financial health 