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 Cognizant (CTSH) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Cognizant generated $2.76B of operating cash flow and $2.47B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 89.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Cognizant (CTSH) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Cognizant (CTSH) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.76B

Capex

-$287M

Free Cash Flow

$2.47B

FCF Margin

+89.6%

Cash flow waterfall for Cognizant (CTSH) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $2.47B

Cash flow breakdown for Cognizant (CTSH) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.76B	$2.76B
Capital Expenditure	-$287M	$2.47B
Free Cash Flow	$2.47B	$2.47B
Acquisitions	-$730M	$1.74B
Other Investing	-$12M	$1.73B
Share Buybacks	-$1.61B	$115M
Dividends Paid	-$614M	-$499M
Other Financing	$15M	-$484M
Forex Effect	$114M	-$370M
Net Cash Decrease	-$370M	-$370M

Operating Cash Flow$2.76B
Capital Expenditure-$287M
Free Cash Flow$2.47B
Acquisitions-$730M
Other Investing-$12M
Share Buybacks-$1.61B
Dividends Paid-$614M
Other Financing$15M
Forex Effect$114M
Net Cash Decrease-$370M

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

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