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 Becton, Dickinson and (BDX) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Becton, Dickinson and generated $3.9B of operating cash flow and $3.14B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 80.5% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Becton, Dickinson and (BDX) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Becton, Dickinson and (BDX) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$3.9B

Capex

-$759M

Free Cash Flow

$3.14B

FCF Margin

+80.5%

Cash flow waterfall for Becton, Dickinson and (BDX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $3.14B

Cash flow breakdown for Becton, Dickinson and (BDX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$3.9B	$3.9B
Capital Expenditure	-$759M	$3.14B
Free Cash Flow	$3.14B	$3.14B
Other Investing	-$393M	$2.75B
Share Buybacks	-$250M	$2.5B
Dividends Paid	-$1.19B	$1.31B
Net Debt Change	-$481M	$833M
Other Financing & FX	-$437M	$396M
Net Cash Increase	$396M	$396M

Operating Cash Flow$3.9B
Capital Expenditure-$759M
Free Cash Flow$3.14B
Other Investing-$393M
Share Buybacks-$250M
Dividends Paid-$1.19B
Net Debt Change-$481M
Other Financing & FX-$437M
Net Cash Increase$396M

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

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