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 Duke Energy (DUK) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Duke Energy generated $11.7B of operating cash flow and $6.6B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 56.5% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

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

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

Duke Energy (DUK) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$11.7B

Capex

-$5.08B

Free Cash Flow

$6.6B

FCF Margin

+56.5%

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

Free cash flow: $6.6B

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

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

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$11.7B	$11.7B
Capital Expenditure	-$5.08B	$6.6B
Free Cash Flow	$6.6B	$6.6B
Acquisitions	$3.06B	$9.66B
Other Investing	-$10.9B	-$1.22B
Net Debt Change	-$1.65B	-$2.86B
Other Financing & FX	$4.5B	$1.63B
Net Cash Increase	$1.63B	$1.63B

Operating Cash Flow$11.7B
Capital Expenditure-$5.08B
Free Cash Flow$6.6B
Acquisitions$3.06B
Other Investing-$10.9B
Net Debt Change-$1.65B
Other Financing & FX$4.5B
Net Cash Increase$1.63B

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

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