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 DexCom (DXCM) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, DexCom generated $1.78B of operating cash flow and $1.43B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 80.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did DexCom (DXCM) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

DexCom (DXCM) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.78B

Capex

-$353M

Free Cash Flow

$1.43B

FCF Margin

+80.2%

Cash flow waterfall for DexCom (DXCM) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.43B

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

Cash flow breakdown for DexCom (DXCM) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.78B	$1.78B
Capital Expenditure	-$353M	$1.43B
Free Cash Flow	$1.43B	$1.43B
Other Investing	$490M	$1.92B
Share Buybacks	-$536M	$1.38B
Other Financing & FX	-$1.17B	$212M
Net Cash Increase	$212M	$212M

Operating Cash Flow$1.78B
Capital Expenditure-$353M
Free Cash Flow$1.43B
Other Investing$490M
Share Buybacks-$536M
Other Financing & FX-$1.17B
Net Cash Increase$212M

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

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