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 MKS (MKSI) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, MKS generated $557M of operating cash flow and $401M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 72% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did MKS (MKSI) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

MKS (MKSI) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$557M

Capex

-$156M

Free Cash Flow

$401M

FCF Margin

+72.0%

Cash flow waterfall for MKS (MKSI) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $401M

Cash flow breakdown for MKS (MKSI) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$557M	$557M
Capital Expenditure	-$156M	$401M
Free Cash Flow	$401M	$401M
Other Investing	$4M	$405M
Dividends Paid	-$61M	$344M
Net Debt Change	-$420M	-$76M
Other Financing	-$38M	-$114M
Forex Effect	$28M	-$86M
Net Cash Decrease	-$86M	-$86M

Operating Cash Flow$557M
Capital Expenditure-$156M
Free Cash Flow$401M
Other Investing$4M
Dividends Paid-$61M
Net Debt Change-$420M
Other Financing-$38M
Forex Effect$28M
Net Cash Decrease-$86M

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

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