Management believes that free cash flow is an important financial measure because it represents the amount of cash provided by operations that is available for investing and defines it as operating cash flow less capital expenditures for property and equipment.
The following table contains a reconciliation of GAAP net cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow.
| Garmin Ltd. And Subsidiaries | ||||||||||
| Free Cash Flow | ||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| 13-Weeks Ended | ||||||||||
| March 31, | March 26, | |||||||||
| 2012 | 2011 | |||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 122,228 | $ | 207,599 | ||||||
| Less: purchases of property and equipment | ($5,758 | ) | ($7,178 | ) | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | $ | 116,470 | $ | 200,421 | ||||||
