A company that generates cash isn’t automatically a winner.
Some businesses stockpile cash but fail to reinvest wisely, limiting their ability to expand.
Luckily for you, we built StockStory to help you separate the good from the bad. Keeping that in mind, here are two cash-producing companies that leverage their financial strength to beat the competition and one best left off your watchlist.
One Stock to Sell:
FTI Consulting (FCN)
Trailing 12-Month Free Cash Flow Margin: 1.2%
With a team of experts deployed across 30+ countries to tackle complex business challenges, FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN) is a global business advisory firm that helps organizations manage change, mitigate risk, and resolve disputes across financial, legal, operational, and regulatory matters.
Why Does FCN Give Us Pause?
- Costs have risen faster than its revenue over the last five years, causing its adjusted operating margin to decline by 2.7 percentage points
- Free cash flow margin shrank by 9.1 percentage points over the last five years, suggesting the company is consuming more capital to stay competitive
FTI Consulting’s stock price of $163.15 implies a valuation ratio of 18.9x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than FCN.
Two Stocks to Buy:
Zscaler (ZS)
Trailing 12-Month Free Cash Flow Margin: 29.9%
Pioneering the "zero trust" approach that has fundamentally changed enterprise network security, Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) provides a cloud-based security platform that connects users, devices, and applications securely without traditional network-based security hardware.
Why Is ZS a Good Business?
- Billings growth has averaged 26.3% over the last year, indicating a healthy pipeline of new contracts that should drive future revenue increases
- Sales outlook for the upcoming 12 months implies the business will stay on its desirable two-year growth trajectory
- ZS is a free cash flow machine with the flexibility to invest in growth initiatives or return capital to shareholders
At $249.93 per share, Zscaler trades at 11.6x forward price-to-sales. Is now the time to initiate a position? Find out in our full research report, it’s free for active Edge members.
ADP (ADP)
Trailing 12-Month Free Cash Flow Margin: 21.9%
Processing one out of every six paychecks in the United States, ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) provides cloud-based human capital management solutions that help businesses manage payroll, benefits, talent acquisition, and HR administration.
Why Is ADP a Top Pick?
- 7.5% annual revenue growth over the last five years surpassed the sector average as its services resonated with customers
- Impressive free cash flow profitability enables the company to fund new investments or reward investors with share buybacks/dividends, and its rising cash conversion increases its margin of safety
- Improving returns on capital reflect management’s ability to monetize investments
ADP is trading at $255.31 per share, or 22.9x forward P/E. Is now a good time to buy? See for yourself in our full research report, it’s free for active Edge members.
High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions
The market’s up big this year - but there’s a catch. Just 4 stocks account for half the S&P 500’s entire gain. That kind of concentration makes investors nervous, and for good reason. While everyone piles into the same crowded names, smart investors are hunting quality where no one’s looking - and paying a fraction of the price. Check out the high-quality names we’ve flagged in our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today
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