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 CenterPoint Energy (CNP) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, CenterPoint Energy generated $2.36B of operating cash flow and -$2.67B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -113.3% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did CenterPoint Energy (CNP) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

CenterPoint Energy (CNP) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.36B

Capex

-$5.03B

Free Cash Flow

-$2.67B

FCF Margin

-113.3%

Cash flow waterfall for CenterPoint Energy (CNP) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: -$2.67B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by purchases or sales of investments.

Cash flow breakdown for CenterPoint Energy (CNP) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.36B	$2.36B
Capital Expenditure	-$5.03B	-$2.67B
Free Cash Flow	-$2.67B	-$2.67B
Acquisitions	-$1.22B	-$3.89B
Other Investing	$1.28B	-$2.61B
Dividends Paid	-$581M	-$3.19B
Net Debt Change	$1.5B	-$1.7B
Other Financing & FX	$2.07B	$375M
Net Cash Increase	$375M	$375M

Operating Cash Flow$2.36B
Capital Expenditure-$5.03B
Free Cash Flow-$2.67B
Acquisitions-$1.22B
Other Investing$1.28B
Dividends Paid-$581M
Net Debt Change$1.5B
Other Financing & FX$2.07B
Net Cash Increase$375M

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

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