Cash Flow Growth While cash is the lifeblood of any business, higher-than-average cash flow growth is more important and beneficial for growth-oriented companies than for mature companies. That's because, growth in cash flow enables these companies to expand their businesses without depending on expensive outside funds. Right now, year-over-year cash flow growth for Icon PLC is 59.1%, which is higher than many of its peers. In fact, the rate compares to the industry average of 1.8%. While investors should actually consider the current cash flow growth, it's worth taking a look at the historical rate too for putting the current reading into proper perspective. The company's annualized cash flow growth rate has been 33% over the past 3-5 years versus the industry average of 13.3%. Promising Earnings Estimate Revisions Superiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here.