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 Generac (GNRC) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Generac generated $499M of operating cash flow and $331M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 66.3% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Generac (GNRC) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Generac (GNRC) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$499M

Capex

-$168M

Free Cash Flow

$331M

FCF Margin

+66.3%

Cash flow waterfall for Generac (GNRC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $331M

Cash flow breakdown for Generac (GNRC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$499M	$499M
Capital Expenditure	-$168M	$331M
Free Cash Flow	$331M	$331M
Acquisitions	-$120M	$211M
Other Investing	-$4.24M	$207M
Share Buybacks	-$50.5M	$157M
Net Debt Change	-$54.1M	$102M
Other Financing & FX	-$24.3M	$78.1M
Net Cash Increase	$78.1M	$78.1M

Operating Cash Flow$499M
Capital Expenditure-$168M
Free Cash Flow$331M
Acquisitions-$120M
Other Investing-$4.24M
Share Buybacks-$50.5M
Net Debt Change-$54.1M
Other Financing & FX-$24.3M
Net Cash Increase$78.1M

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

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