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 DTE Energy (DTE) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, DTE Energy generated $3.31B of operating cash flow and -$1.47B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -44.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did DTE Energy (DTE) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

DTE Energy (DTE) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$3.31B

Capex

-$4.79B

Free Cash Flow

-$1.47B

FCF Margin

-44.4%

Cash flow waterfall for DTE Energy (DTE) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: -$1.47B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by purchases or sales of investments.

Cash flow breakdown for DTE Energy (DTE) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$3.31B	$3.31B
Capital Expenditure	-$4.79B	-$1.47B
Free Cash Flow	-$1.47B	-$1.47B
Acquisitions	-$384M	-$1.86B
Other Investing	-$501M	-$2.36B
Dividends Paid	-$887M	-$3.24B
Net Debt Change	$3.46B	$219M
Other Financing & FX	-$33M	$186M
Net Cash Increase	$188M	$188M

Operating Cash Flow$3.31B
Capital Expenditure-$4.79B
Free Cash Flow-$1.47B
Acquisitions-$384M
Other Investing-$501M
Dividends Paid-$887M
Net Debt Change$3.46B
Other Financing & FX-$33M
Net Cash Increase$188M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

DTE Energy (DTE) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

DTE Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

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

Forecast & Valuation