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 Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Freeport-McMoRan generated $6.05B of operating cash flow and $6.25B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 103.3% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$6.05B

Capex

$199M

Free Cash Flow

$6.25B

FCF Margin

+103.3%

Cash flow waterfall for Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $6.25B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$6.05B	$6.05B
Capital Expenditure	$199M	$6.25B
Free Cash Flow	$6.25B	$6.25B
Other Investing	-$4.48B	$1.77B
Dividends Paid	-$225M	$1.54B
Net Debt Change	-$414M	$1.13B
Other Financing	-$1.93B	-$799M
Forex Effect	$804M	$5M
Net Cash Increase	$5M	$5M

Operating Cash Flow$6.05B
Capital Expenditure$199M
Free Cash Flow$6.25B
Other Investing-$4.48B
Dividends Paid-$225M
Net Debt Change-$414M
Other Financing-$1.93B
Forex Effect$804M
Net Cash Increase$5M

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

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