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 Charles River (CRL) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Charles River generated $607M of operating cash flow and $391M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 64.5% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Charles River (CRL) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Charles River (CRL) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$607M

Capex

-$216M

Free Cash Flow

$391M

FCF Margin

+64.5%

Cash flow waterfall for Charles River (CRL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $391M

Cash flow breakdown for Charles River (CRL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$607M	$607M
Capital Expenditure	-$216M	$391M
Free Cash Flow	$391M	$391M
Acquisitions	-$403M	-$12M
Other Investing	$66.5M	$54.5M
Share Buybacks	-$216M	-$161M
Net Debt Change	$168M	$6.71M
Other Financing & FX	-$40.2M	-$33.5M
Net Cash Decrease	-$33.5M	-$33.5M

Operating Cash Flow$607M
Capital Expenditure-$216M
Free Cash Flow$391M
Acquisitions-$403M
Other Investing$66.5M
Share Buybacks-$216M
Net Debt Change$168M
Other Financing & FX-$40.2M
Net Cash Decrease-$33.5M

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

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Buybacks2.77% TTM

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

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