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 Centene (CNC) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Centene generated $7.18B of operating cash flow and $6.35B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 88.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Centene (CNC) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Centene (CNC) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$7.18B

Capex

-$832M

Free Cash Flow

$6.35B

FCF Margin

+88.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Centene (CNC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $6.35B

Cash flow breakdown for Centene (CNC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$7.18B	$7.18B
Capital Expenditure	-$832M	$6.35B
Free Cash Flow	$6.35B	$6.35B
Other Investing	$1.9B	$8.25B
Share Buybacks	-$463M	$7.79B
Net Debt Change	-$1.98B	$5.8B
Other Financing	$31M	$5.83B
Forex Effect	-$131M	$5.7B
Net Cash Increase	$5.7B	$5.7B

Operating Cash Flow$7.18B
Capital Expenditure-$832M
Free Cash Flow$6.35B
Other Investing$1.9B
Share Buybacks-$463M
Net Debt Change-$1.98B
Other Financing$31M
Forex Effect-$131M
Net Cash Increase$5.7B

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Centene (CNC) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

CNC Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

How this company returns cash to shareholders — buybacks, dividends, and stock splits.

Forecast & Valuation