Estimating the cash flow generated by $1 invested in a project The profitability index (PI) is a capital budgeting tool that is defined as the present value of a project's cash inflows divided by the absolute value of initial cash outflow. Consider this case: Free Spirit Industries Inc. is considering investing $3,225,000 in a project that is expected to generate the following net cash flows: Free Spirit Industries Inc. uses a WACC of 7% when evaluating proposed capital budgeting projects. Based on these cash flows, determine this project's PI (rounded to four decimal places): 0.4925 0.3855 0.4283 0.4497 Free Spirit Industries Inc.'s decision to accept or reject this project is independent of its decisions on other projects, Based on the project's PI, the fil should the project. By comparison, the NPV of this project is in the project because the project . On the basis of this evaluation criterion, Free Spirit Industries Inc. should increase the firm's value. A project with a negative NPV will have a PI that is ; when it has a PI of 1.0 , it will have an NPV