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 Ameren (AEE) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Ameren generated $3.34B of operating cash flow and -$1.33B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -39.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Ameren (AEE) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Ameren's shareholder returns for TTM through Q1 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Ameren (AEE) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$3.34B

Capex

-$4.67B

Free Cash Flow

-$1.33B

FCF Margin

-39.6%

Cash flow waterfall for Ameren (AEE) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: -$1.33B

Cash flow breakdown for Ameren (AEE) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$3.34B	$3.34B
Capital Expenditure	-$4.67B	-$1.33B
Free Cash Flow	-$1.33B	-$1.33B
Other Investing	-$4M	-$1.33B
Dividends Paid	-$785M	-$2.11B
Net Debt Change	$1.68B	-$430M
Other Financing	$539M	$109M
Forex Effect	-$76M	$33M
Net Cash Increase	$33M	$33M

Operating Cash Flow$3.34B
Capital Expenditure-$4.67B
Free Cash Flow-$1.33B
Other Investing-$4M
Dividends Paid-$785M
Net Debt Change$1.68B
Other Financing$539M
Forex Effect-$76M
Net Cash Increase$33M

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

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