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 Clorox (CLX) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Clorox generated $576M of operating cash flow and $380M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 66% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Clorox (CLX) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Clorox (CLX) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$576M

Capex

-$196M

Free Cash Flow

$380M

FCF Margin

+66.0%

Cash flow waterfall for Clorox (CLX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $380M

Cash flow breakdown for Clorox (CLX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$576M	$576M
Capital Expenditure	-$196M	$380M
Free Cash Flow	$380M	$380M
Share Buybacks	-$331M	$49M
Dividends Paid	-$602M	-$553M
Net Debt Change	$1.53B	$978M
Other Financing & FX	-$20M	$958M
Net Cash Increase	$958M	$958M

Operating Cash Flow$576M
Capital Expenditure-$196M
Free Cash Flow$380M
Share Buybacks-$331M
Dividends Paid-$602M
Net Debt Change$1.53B
Other Financing & FX-$20M
Net Cash Increase$958M

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

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