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 American States Water (AWR) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, American States Water generated $256M of operating cash flow and $38M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 14.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did American States Water (AWR) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

American States Water (AWR) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$256M

Capex

-$218M

Free Cash Flow

$38M

FCF Margin

+14.8%

Cash flow waterfall for American States Water (AWR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $38M

Cash flow breakdown for American States Water (AWR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$256M	$256M
Capital Expenditure	-$218M	$38M
Free Cash Flow	$38M	$38M
Other Investing	-$718K	$37.3M
Dividends Paid	-$76.6M	-$39.3M
Net Debt Change	-$18.1M	-$57.4M
Other Financing & FX	$58.3M	$926K
Net Cash Increase	$926K	$926K

Operating Cash Flow$256M
Capital Expenditure-$218M
Free Cash Flow$38M
Other Investing-$718K
Dividends Paid-$76.6M
Net Debt Change-$18.1M
Other Financing & FX$58.3M
Net Cash Increase$926K

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

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