[lmm]

Nope, no differential. It's more like profit = cash flow (i.e. profit on day-to-day things) + profit/loss on investments/loans (e.g. taking out a loan, paying off a loan, but also cases where you own the same thing as before, but value it higher or lower now for some reason).

So e.g. during the housing bubble, some companies were cash flow negative (i.e. losing money on their day-to-day business), but they recorded a profit for the quarter because the buildings they owned were worth more at the end of it than they had been at the start.