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 AMETEK (AME) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, AMETEK generated $1.84B of operating cash flow and $1.7B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 92.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did AMETEK (AME) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

AMETEK (AME) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.84B

Capex

-$133M

Free Cash Flow

$1.7B

FCF Margin

+92.8%

Cash flow waterfall for AMETEK (AME) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.7B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by purchases or sales of investments.

Cash flow breakdown for AMETEK (AME) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.84B	$1.84B
Capital Expenditure	-$133M	$1.7B
Free Cash Flow	$1.7B	$1.7B
Acquisitions	-$210M	$1.49B
Other Investing	-$829M	$664M
Share Buybacks	-$444M	$220M
Dividends Paid	-$292M	-$71.5M
Net Debt Change	$109M	$37.3M
Other Financing & FX	$45M	$82.2M
Net Cash Increase	$82.2M	$82.2M

Operating Cash Flow$1.84B
Capital Expenditure-$133M
Free Cash Flow$1.7B
Acquisitions-$210M
Other Investing-$829M
Share Buybacks-$444M
Dividends Paid-$292M
Net Debt Change$109M
Other Financing & FX$45M
Net Cash Increase$82.2M

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

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