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 Lyft (LYFT) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Lyft generated $1.22B of operating cash flow and $1.16B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 94.5% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Lyft (LYFT) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Lyft (LYFT) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.22B

Capex

-$66.7M

Free Cash Flow

$1.16B

FCF Margin

+94.5%

Cash flow waterfall for Lyft (LYFT) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.16B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Lyft (LYFT) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.22B	$1.22B
Capital Expenditure	-$66.7M	$1.16B
Free Cash Flow	$1.16B	$1.16B
Acquisitions	-$251M	$904M
Other Investing	$710M	$1.61B
Share Buybacks	-$758M	$856M
Net Debt Change	-$32.7M	$823M
Other Financing	-$243M	$580M
Forex Effect	-$537M	$43.6M
Net Cash Increase	$43.6M	$43.6M

Operating Cash Flow$1.22B
Capital Expenditure-$66.7M
Free Cash Flow$1.16B
Acquisitions-$251M
Other Investing$710M
Share Buybacks-$758M
Net Debt Change-$32.7M
Other Financing-$243M
Forex Effect-$537M
Net Cash Increase$43.6M

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

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Buybacks14.43% TTM

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