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 Best Buy Co. (BBY) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Best Buy Co. generated $2.3B of operating cash flow and $1.61B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 69.7% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Best Buy Co. (BBY) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Best Buy Co.'s shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Best Buy Co. (BBY) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.3B

Capex

-$698M

Free Cash Flow

$1.61B

FCF Margin

+69.7%

Cash flow waterfall for Best Buy Co. (BBY) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $1.61B

Cash flow breakdown for Best Buy Co. (BBY) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.3B	$2.3B
Capital Expenditure	-$698M	$1.61B
Free Cash Flow	$1.61B	$1.61B
Other Investing	-$26M	$1.58B
Share Buybacks	-$173M	$1.41B
Dividends Paid	-$801M	$605M
Other Financing	-$6M	$599M
Forex Effect	-$554M	$45M
Net Cash Increase	$45M	$45M

Operating Cash Flow$2.3B
Capital Expenditure-$698M
Free Cash Flow$1.61B
Other Investing-$26M
Share Buybacks-$173M
Dividends Paid-$801M
Other Financing-$6M
Forex Effect-$554M
Net Cash Increase$45M

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

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