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 Quest Diagnostics (DGX) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Quest Diagnostics generated $1.85B of operating cash flow and $1.33B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 71.7% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Quest Diagnostics (DGX) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.85B

Capex

-$524M

Free Cash Flow

$1.33B

FCF Margin

+71.7%

Cash flow waterfall for Quest Diagnostics (DGX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.33B

Cash flow breakdown for Quest Diagnostics (DGX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.85B	$1.85B
Capital Expenditure	-$524M	$1.33B
Free Cash Flow	$1.33B	$1.33B
Acquisitions	-$139M	$1.19B
Other Investing	-$5M	$1.18B
Share Buybacks	-$450M	$732M
Dividends Paid	-$357M	$375M
Net Debt Change	-$218M	$157M
Other Financing & FX	$48M	$205M
Net Cash Increase	$205M	$205M

Operating Cash Flow$1.85B
Capital Expenditure-$524M
Free Cash Flow$1.33B
Acquisitions-$139M
Other Investing-$5M
Share Buybacks-$450M
Dividends Paid-$357M
Net Debt Change-$218M
Other Financing & FX$48M
Net Cash Increase$205M

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

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