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 A. O. Smith (AOS) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, A. O. Smith generated $708M of operating cash flow and $648M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 91.5% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did A. O. Smith (AOS) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

A. O. Smith (AOS) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$708M

Capex

-$60M

Free Cash Flow

$648M

FCF Margin

+91.5%

Cash flow waterfall for A. O. Smith (AOS) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $648M

Cash flow breakdown for A. O. Smith (AOS) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$708M	$708M
Capital Expenditure	-$60M	$648M
Free Cash Flow	$648M	$648M
Acquisitions	-$470M	$178M
Other Investing	$7.3M	$185M
Share Buybacks	-$332M	-$147M
Dividends Paid	-$197M	-$343M
Net Debt Change	$349M	$5.8M
Other Financing & FX	$6.4M	$12.2M
Net Cash Increase	$12.2M	$12.2M

Operating Cash Flow$708M
Capital Expenditure-$60M
Free Cash Flow$648M
Acquisitions-$470M
Other Investing$7.3M
Share Buybacks-$332M
Dividends Paid-$197M
Net Debt Change$349M
Other Financing & FX$6.4M
Net Cash Increase$12.2M

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

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