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 Hormel Foods (HRL) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Hormel Foods generated $1.01B of operating cash flow and $693M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 68.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Hormel Foods (HRL) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Hormel Foods's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Hormel Foods (HRL) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.01B

Capex

-$315M

Free Cash Flow

$693M

FCF Margin

+68.8%

Cash flow waterfall for Hormel Foods (HRL) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $693M

Cash flow breakdown for Hormel Foods (HRL) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.01B	$1.01B
Capital Expenditure	-$315M	$693M
Free Cash Flow	$693M	$693M
Acquisitions	$83.9M	$777M
Other Investing	$25.3M	$802M
Dividends Paid	-$639M	$163M
Other Financing & FX	-$5.6M	$157M
Net Cash Increase	$157M	$157M

Operating Cash Flow$1.01B
Capital Expenditure-$315M
Free Cash Flow$693M
Acquisitions$83.9M
Other Investing$25.3M
Dividends Paid-$639M
Other Financing & FX-$5.6M
Net Cash Increase$157M

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

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