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 C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, C.H. Robinson Worldwide generated $877M of operating cash flow and $858M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 97.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$877M

Capex

-$18.9M

Free Cash Flow

$858M

FCF Margin

+97.8%

Cash flow waterfall for C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $858M

Cash flow breakdown for C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$877M	$877M
Capital Expenditure	-$18.9M	$858M
Free Cash Flow	$858M	$858M
Other Investing	-$50.7M	$807M
Share Buybacks	-$520M	$287M
Dividends Paid	-$303M	-$15.6M
Net Debt Change	-$48M	-$63.6M
Other Financing & FX	$93.3M	$29.7M
Net Cash Increase	$29.7M	$29.7M

Operating Cash Flow$877M
Capital Expenditure-$18.9M
Free Cash Flow$858M
Other Investing-$50.7M
Share Buybacks-$520M
Dividends Paid-$303M
Net Debt Change-$48M
Other Financing & FX$93.3M
Net Cash Increase$29.7M

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

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