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 Comcast (CMCSA) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Comcast generated $32.2B of operating cash flow and $20.4B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 63.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Comcast (CMCSA) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Comcast (CMCSA) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$32.2B

Capex

-$11.9B

Free Cash Flow

$20.4B

FCF Margin

+63.2%

Cash flow waterfall for Comcast (CMCSA) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $20.4B

Cash flow breakdown for Comcast (CMCSA) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$32.2B	$32.2B
Capital Expenditure	-$11.9B	$20.4B
Free Cash Flow	$20.4B	$20.4B
Acquisitions	-$1.3B	$19.1B
Other Investing	-$2.97B	$16.1B
Share Buybacks	-$6.42B	$9.71B
Dividends Paid	-$4.92B	$4.79B
Net Debt Change	-$2.8B	$1.99B
Other Financing	-$1.14B	$843M
Forex Effect	-$995M	-$152M
Net Cash Decrease	-$152M	-$152M

Operating Cash Flow$32.2B
Capital Expenditure-$11.9B
Free Cash Flow$20.4B
Acquisitions-$1.3B
Other Investing-$2.97B
Share Buybacks-$6.42B
Dividends Paid-$4.92B
Net Debt Change-$2.8B
Other Financing-$1.14B
Forex Effect-$995M
Net Cash Decrease-$152M

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

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