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 Cerebras Systems (CBRS) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Cerebras Systems generated $289M of operating cash flow and $145M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 50.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Cerebras Systems (CBRS) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Cerebras Systems (CBRS) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$289M

Capex

-$144M

Free Cash Flow

$145M

FCF Margin

+50.2%

Cash flow waterfall for Cerebras Systems (CBRS) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $145M

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

Cash flow breakdown for Cerebras Systems (CBRS) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$289M	$289M
Capital Expenditure	-$144M	$145M
Free Cash Flow	$145M	$145M
Other Investing	-$74.6M	$70.4M
Net Debt Change	$1B	$1.08B
Other Financing & FX	$1.05B	$2.13B
Net Cash Increase	$1.83B	$1.83B

Operating Cash Flow$289M
Capital Expenditure-$144M
Free Cash Flow$145M
Other Investing-$74.6M
Net Debt Change$1B
Other Financing & FX$1.05B
Net Cash Increase$1.83B

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

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