Filing labs: REIT, BDC and company cash-flow analysis

Turn a metric into an auditable calculation.

Knowing a formula is only the first step. These exercises ask you to locate a number, preserve its definition and period, rebuild a reconciliation, and explain what the result cannot establish. Each uses a specific issuer’s FY2024 disclosures and a worked answer you can open after trying the task.

Start with Realty Income to learn the difference between annual paid dividends, a year-end annualized rate and the diluted AFFO denominator. Continue with Ares Capital to distinguish reported NII from Core EPS and to collect PIK income across several source rows. For a nonfinancial operating company, use Apple to connect profit, operating cash, capital spending and shareholder payments, then reconcile the cash balance. These companies are teaching examples, not a comparison, ranking or investment selection.

Bring these three habits to every lab.

1. Label the column. Record the full period, currency, scale and common-share basis before doing arithmetic.
2. Preserve the reconciliation. An adjusted metric can add back an economically meaningful cost. Retain both the reported result and the definition.
3. Write the unanswered question. A coverage ratio cannot by itself resolve cash timing, future spending or credit risk.

All source tables, calculations and answer keys are readable without JavaScript. The linked calculators are optional ways to reproduce the arithmetic. How DFB prepares educational material.