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 MGE Energy (MGEE) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, MGE Energy generated $266M of operating cash flow and -$131M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -49.1% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did MGE Energy (MGEE) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

MGE Energy (MGEE) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$266M

Capex

-$397M

Free Cash Flow

-$131M

FCF Margin

-49.1%

Cash flow waterfall for MGE Energy (MGEE) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: -$131M

Cash flow breakdown for MGE Energy (MGEE) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$266M	$266M
Capital Expenditure	-$397M	-$131M
Free Cash Flow	-$131M	-$131M
Other Investing	-$8.72M	-$139M
Dividends Paid	-$68.5M	-$208M
Net Debt Change	$172M	-$36.2M
Other Financing & FX	$10.5M	-$25.7M
Net Cash Decrease	-$25.7M	-$25.7M

Operating Cash Flow$266M
Capital Expenditure-$397M
Free Cash Flow-$131M
Other Investing-$8.72M
Dividends Paid-$68.5M
Net Debt Change$172M
Other Financing & FX$10.5M
Net Cash Decrease-$25.7M

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

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