What is an income statement waterfall?

An income statement waterfall is a bar chart that walks from total revenue down to net income, with each step showing how much a cost or tax line removes (or adds). Subtotals — gross profit, operating income, pre-tax income — are anchored to zero so the cascade reconciles exactly to the bottom line.

How much of Capital One Financial (COF) revenue becomes net income?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Capital One Financial turned $75.2B of revenue into $3.22B of net income — a net margin of 4.3%. The waterfall shows where the rest goes: cost of revenue, operating expenses, non-operating items, and taxes.

What are Capital One Financial (COF) gross, operating, and net margins?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Capital One Financial reported a gross margin of 48.3%, an operating margin of 4.3%, and a net margin of 4.3%. Each subtotal in the waterfall corresponds to one of these margins.

Why does Capital One Financial (COF) have such a high (or low) gross margin?

Gross margin (gross profit ÷ revenue) reflects how much of each revenue dollar remains after direct production costs. Capital-light software and platform businesses often show gross margins above 60–80% because their cost of revenue is mainly hosting and support. Hardware, retail, and commodity businesses show lower gross margins because raw materials and manufacturing costs are significant. The waterfall makes this visible at a glance — the size of the "Cost of Revenue" bar relative to Revenue is the gross margin complement.

What is the difference between gross, operating, and net margin?

Gross margin = (Revenue − Cost of Revenue) ÷ Revenue. It measures production efficiency. Operating margin = Operating Income ÷ Revenue. It adds operating expenses (R&D, S&M, G&A) and measures the profitability of core operations. Net margin = Net Income ÷ Revenue. It also includes interest, other income/expense, and taxes, and represents the shareholder take after everything.

Capital One Financial (COF) Income Statement Waterfall

Revenue

$75.2B

Gross Margin

+48.3%

Operating Margin

+4.3%

Net Margin

+4.3%

Income statement waterfall for Capital One Financial (COF) — TTM through Q1 2026

Net income: $3.22B

Margin breakdown for Capital One Financial (COF) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Revenue	$75.2B	$75.2B
Cost of Revenue	-$38.9B	$36.3B
Gross Profit	$36.3B	$36.3B
Operating Expenses	-$33.1B	$3.25B
Operating Income	$3.25B	$3.25B
Pre-tax Income	$3.25B	$3.25B
Income Tax	-$386M	$2.87B
Other Items	$358M	$3.22B
Net Income	$3.22B	$3.22B

Revenue$75.2B
Cost of Revenue-$38.9B
Gross Profit$36.3B
Operating Expenses-$33.1B
Operating Income$3.25B
Pre-tax Income$3.25B
Income Tax-$386M
Other Items$358M
Net Income$3.22B

Want to see what changed vs last year?Profit Bridge

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Capital One Financial (COF) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Income Statement

Balance Sheet

Profitability

Cash Flow

Capital Return

Forecast & Valuation

Operations

Employees76.3K

Explore more

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

Overview

COF Overview

Counters