Allow me to start off with some basic conclusions about Tyco (NYSE:TYC).

The company produces quite a bit of free cash flow and is willing to use that to buy back stock. It operates in diverse businesses with some ongoing growth potential. It also happens to be a conglomerate, and it's all too common to see conglomerates trade below fair value because of a combination of investor confusion and worries that the conglomerate structure inhibits the full potential of the various businesses.

By most reasonable standards, growth in the company's fiscal fourth quarter was not exactly dynamic. Reported revenue was flat, with organic revenue rising about 2%. Operating income was actually lower for the quarter, while pre-tax income was up a little less than 8%.

Cash flow performance, though, was another matter. Operating cash flow rose 16% for the year, and free cash flow increased more than 13%. Behind those numbers, the free-cash-flow yield (free cash flow divided by sales) was an impressive 12%. Although this year's performance may be tough to reproduce, the year-ago level of nearly 11% still supports the idea that this is a very solid cash-flow producer.

Part of the trick with Tyco, though, is that there are always a lot of moving parts. Some units, like health care and engineered products, did well. A couple didn't. Operating income was stronger in fire and security, but weaker in electronics. So on and so forth. While that can admittedly make it difficult to answer the question "just how well are they doing?" I would again refer back to the cash flow statement -- something is obviously working here.

It probably won't come as any real surprise that Tyco has a legion of competitors like General Electric (NYSE:GE), Honeywell (NYSE:HON), United Technologies (NYSE:UTX), ITT (NYSE:ITT), and Siemens (NYSE:SI) -- all conglomerates in their own rights, at least to some extent.

For whatever sins are in Tyco's past, current management seems to be focused on rational growth plans and building value for shareholders. Even with today's jump in the stock price (as of press time), though, investors might want to further investigate this multifaceted cash machine.

More amalgamated Foolishness:

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).