A positive cycle means the company funds its own working capital. A negative cycle means customers pay before suppliers are paid, so growth generates cash rather than consuming it, which is the structural advantage supermarkets and some marketplaces enjoy.
Changes matter more than levels. A cycle stretching by twenty days is the earliest clean signal of demand weakness or of a company buying revenue with credit terms.
Example: Northwind Tools has 206 days of inventory, 41 days of receivables and 115 days of payables, so the cycle is 132 days. Two years earlier it was 104, and the 28-day stretch ties up roughly $65M.
Related: days-inventory-outstanding, days-sales-outstanding, days-payable-outstanding, working-capital, change-in-working-capital