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 KLA (KLAC) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, KLA generated $4.4B of operating cash flow and $4.01B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 91.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did KLA (KLAC) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

KLA (KLAC) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$4.4B

Capex

-$387M

Free Cash Flow

$4.01B

FCF Margin

+91.2%

Cash flow waterfall for KLA (KLAC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $4.01B

Cash flow breakdown for KLA (KLAC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$4.4B	$4.4B
Capital Expenditure	-$387M	$4.01B
Free Cash Flow	$4.01B	$4.01B
Other Investing	-$955M	$3.06B
Share Buybacks	-$2.14B	$915M
Dividends Paid	-$1.01B	-$91.6M
Net Debt Change	$750M	$658M
Other Financing & FX	-$729M	-$71M
Net Cash Decrease	-$71M	-$71M

Operating Cash Flow$4.4B
Capital Expenditure-$387M
Free Cash Flow$4.01B
Other Investing-$955M
Share Buybacks-$2.14B
Dividends Paid-$1.01B
Net Debt Change$750M
Other Financing & FX-$729M
Net Cash Decrease-$71M

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

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