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 Howmet Aerospace (HWM) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Howmet Aerospace generated $2.08B of operating cash flow and $1.44B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 68.9% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Howmet Aerospace (HWM) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Howmet Aerospace (HWM) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.08B

Capex

-$649M

Free Cash Flow

$1.44B

FCF Margin

+68.9%

Cash flow waterfall for Howmet Aerospace (HWM) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.44B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Howmet Aerospace (HWM) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.08B	$2.08B
Capital Expenditure	-$649M	$1.44B
Free Cash Flow	$1.44B	$1.44B
Acquisitions	-$118M	$1.32B
Other Investing	$458M	$1.78B
Share Buybacks	-$930M	$845M
Dividends Paid	-$187M	$658M
Net Debt Change	$1.38B	$2.04B
Other Financing & FX	-$141M	$1.9B
Net Cash Increase	$1.9B	$1.9B

Operating Cash Flow$2.08B
Capital Expenditure-$649M
Free Cash Flow$1.44B
Acquisitions-$118M
Other Investing$458M
Share Buybacks-$930M
Dividends Paid-$187M
Net Debt Change$1.38B
Other Financing & FX-$141M
Net Cash Increase$1.9B

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

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