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 Chevron (CVX) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Chevron generated $31.1B of operating cash flow and $13.4B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 43% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Chevron (CVX) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Chevron (CVX) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$31.1B

Capex

-$17.7B

Free Cash Flow

$13.4B

FCF Margin

+43.0%

Cash flow waterfall for Chevron (CVX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $13.4B

Cash flow breakdown for Chevron (CVX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$31.1B	$31.1B
Capital Expenditure	-$17.7B	$13.4B
Free Cash Flow	$13.4B	$13.4B
Acquisitions	$1.05B	$14.4B
Other Investing	$3.33B	$17.7B
Share Buybacks	-$10.5B	$7.24B
Dividends Paid	-$13.3B	-$6.06B
Net Debt Change	$5.48B	-$577M
Other Financing & FX	$390M	-$187M
Net Cash Decrease	-$187M	-$187M

Operating Cash Flow$31.1B
Capital Expenditure-$17.7B
Free Cash Flow$13.4B
Acquisitions$1.05B
Other Investing$3.33B
Share Buybacks-$10.5B
Dividends Paid-$13.3B
Net Debt Change$5.48B
Other Financing & FX$390M
Net Cash Decrease-$187M

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

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