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 Corpay (CPAY) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Corpay generated $1.52B of operating cash flow and $1.31B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 86.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Corpay (CPAY) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Corpay (CPAY) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.52B

Capex

-$207M

Free Cash Flow

$1.31B

FCF Margin

+86.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Corpay (CPAY) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.31B

Cash flow breakdown for Corpay (CPAY) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.52B	$1.52B
Capital Expenditure	-$207M	$1.31B
Free Cash Flow	$1.31B	$1.31B
Acquisitions	$2.51B	$3.82B
Other Investing	-$520M	$3.3B
Share Buybacks	-$1.51B	$1.79B
Net Debt Change	$2.17B	$3.95B
Other Financing	$348M	$4.3B
Forex Effect	$132M	$4.43B
Net Cash Increase	$4.43B	$4.43B

Operating Cash Flow$1.52B
Capital Expenditure-$207M
Free Cash Flow$1.31B
Acquisitions$2.51B
Other Investing-$520M
Share Buybacks-$1.51B
Net Debt Change$2.17B
Other Financing$348M
Forex Effect$132M
Net Cash Increase$4.43B

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

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Buybacks7.68% TTM

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

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