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 Loews (L) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Loews generated $2.8B of operating cash flow and $2.18B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 77.9% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Loews (L) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Loews (L) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.8B

Capex

-$618M

Free Cash Flow

$2.18B

FCF Margin

+77.9%

Cash flow waterfall for Loews (L) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $2.18B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Loews (L) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.8B	$2.8B
Capital Expenditure	-$618M	$2.18B
Free Cash Flow	$2.18B	$2.18B
Acquisitions	-$195M	$1.99B
Other Investing	-$817M	$1.17B
Share Buybacks	-$443M	$729M
Dividends Paid	-$52M	$677M
Other Financing	-$212M	$465M
Forex Effect	-$182M	$283M
Net Cash Increase	$283M	$283M

Operating Cash Flow$2.8B
Capital Expenditure-$618M
Free Cash Flow$2.18B
Acquisitions-$195M
Other Investing-$817M
Share Buybacks-$443M
Dividends Paid-$52M
Other Financing-$212M
Forex Effect-$182M
Net Cash Increase$283M

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

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