would you mind walking back through that and explaining the acronyms and the meanings. I can google things like FCF is Free cash flow, but understanding that? much harder
The importance of free cash flow lies in how capital investment (buying buildings, factories, or other companies, among other things) is treated.
When a company invests money, it doesn't count against the company's profit. It is just treated as one asset turning into another asset.
/BUT/, if a company is essentially /required/ to invest money in new capital to keep the business going (think capital intensive businesses like oil exploration), as an owner you have to budget that you'll need cash to invest in new things, reducing the amount that actually comes to you.
That hit doesn't show up in profit or revenue, but it does show up in free cash flow.
Other than that, QE is quantitative easing; EV/FCF is enterprise value divided by free cash flow, which can be a useful ratio sometimes (company has a lot of cash/equivalents or lots of non-cash charges lowering earnings); and DCF is discounted cash flow, which the sibling comment explains well.