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 Lamb Weston (LW) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Lamb Weston generated $979M of operating cash flow and $634M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 64.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Lamb Weston (LW) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Lamb Weston (LW) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$979M

Capex

-$344M

Free Cash Flow

$634M

FCF Margin

+64.8%

Cash flow waterfall for Lamb Weston (LW) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $634M

Cash flow breakdown for Lamb Weston (LW) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$979M	$979M
Capital Expenditure	-$344M	$634M
Free Cash Flow	$634M	$634M
Other Investing	$17.3M	$652M
Share Buybacks	-$160M	$492M
Dividends Paid	-$207M	$285M
Net Debt Change	-$304M	-$19.3M
Other Financing & FX	$9.3M	-$10M
Net Cash Decrease	-$10M	-$10M

Operating Cash Flow$979M
Capital Expenditure-$344M
Free Cash Flow$634M
Other Investing$17.3M
Share Buybacks-$160M
Dividends Paid-$207M
Net Debt Change-$304M
Other Financing & FX$9.3M
Net Cash Decrease-$10M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Lamb Weston (LW) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

LW Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

How this company returns cash to shareholders — buybacks, dividends, and stock splits.

Forecast & Valuation