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 Church & Dwight Co. (CHD) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Church & Dwight Co. generated $1.2B of operating cash flow and $1.07B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 88.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Church & Dwight Co. (CHD) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Church & Dwight Co. (CHD) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.2B

Capex

-$138M

Free Cash Flow

$1.07B

FCF Margin

+88.6%

Cash flow waterfall for Church & Dwight Co. (CHD) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.07B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by acquisitions and investment activity.

Cash flow breakdown for Church & Dwight Co. (CHD) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.2B	$1.2B
Capital Expenditure	-$138M	$1.07B
Free Cash Flow	$1.07B	$1.07B
Other Investing	-$496M	$571M
Share Buybacks	-$900M	-$329M
Dividends Paid	-$288M	-$617M
Other Financing & FX	$45.8M	-$571M
Net Cash Decrease	-$571M	-$571M

Operating Cash Flow$1.2B
Capital Expenditure-$138M
Free Cash Flow$1.07B
Other Investing-$496M
Share Buybacks-$900M
Dividends Paid-$288M
Other Financing & FX$45.8M
Net Cash Decrease-$571M

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

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