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 AES (AES) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, AES generated $4.96B of operating cash flow and -$1.48B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -29.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did AES (AES) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

AES (AES) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$4.96B

Capex

-$6.44B

Free Cash Flow

-$1.48B

FCF Margin

-29.8%

Cash flow waterfall for AES (AES) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: -$1.48B

Cash flow breakdown for AES (AES) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$4.96B	$4.96B
Capital Expenditure	-$6.44B	-$1.48B
Free Cash Flow	-$1.48B	-$1.48B
Acquisitions	$2.21B	$734M
Other Investing	-$285M	$449M
Dividends Paid	-$501M	-$52M
Net Debt Change	$104M	$52M
Other Financing & FX	-$341M	-$289M
Net Cash Decrease	-$289M	-$289M

Operating Cash Flow$4.96B
Capital Expenditure-$6.44B
Free Cash Flow-$1.48B
Acquisitions$2.21B
Other Investing-$285M
Dividends Paid-$501M
Net Debt Change$104M
Other Financing & FX-$341M
Net Cash Decrease-$289M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

AES (AES) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

AES Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

How this company returns cash to shareholders — buybacks, dividends, and stock splits.

Forecast & Valuation