What is a cash flow waterfall?

A cash flow waterfall is a bar chart that walks from operating cash flow through capital expenditure to free cash flow, then shows how the remaining cash is allocated — acquisitions, buybacks, dividends, debt, and other financing — ending at the net change in cash. Each step is colour-coded: green bars add to the running total, red bars subtract.

How does Autodesk (ADSK) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Autodesk generated $2.78B of operating cash flow and $2.73B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 98.1% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Autodesk (ADSK) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Autodesk's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Autodesk (ADSK) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.78B

Capex

-$52M

Free Cash Flow

$2.73B

FCF Margin

+98.1%

Cash flow waterfall for Autodesk (ADSK) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $2.73B

Cash flow breakdown for Autodesk (ADSK) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.78B	$2.78B
Capital Expenditure	-$52M	$2.73B
Free Cash Flow	$2.73B	$2.73B
Acquisitions	-$55M	$2.67B
Other Investing	-$373M	$2.3B
Share Buybacks	-$2.08B	$220M
Net Debt Change	$199M	$419M
Other Financing & FX	$436M	$855M
Net Cash Increase	$855M	$855M

Operating Cash Flow$2.78B
Capital Expenditure-$52M
Free Cash Flow$2.73B
Acquisitions-$55M
Other Investing-$373M
Share Buybacks-$2.08B
Net Debt Change$199M
Other Financing & FX$436M
Net Cash Increase$855M

Want to see what drove the FCF change?Free Cash Flow Bridge

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