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 Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Martin Marietta Materials generated $1.79B of operating cash flow and $1.03B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 57.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.79B

Capex

-$760M

Free Cash Flow

$1.03B

FCF Margin

+57.6%

Cash flow waterfall for Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.03B

Cash flow breakdown for Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.79B	$1.79B
Capital Expenditure	-$760M	$1.03B
Free Cash Flow	$1.03B	$1.03B
Acquisitions	-$647M	$387M
Other Investing	$374M	$761M
Share Buybacks	-$202M	$559M
Dividends Paid	-$199M	$360M
Net Debt Change	-$144M	$216M
Other Financing & FX	-$44M	$172M
Net Cash Increase	$172M	$172M

Operating Cash Flow$1.79B
Capital Expenditure-$760M
Free Cash Flow$1.03B
Acquisitions-$647M
Other Investing$374M
Share Buybacks-$202M
Dividends Paid-$199M
Net Debt Change-$144M
Other Financing & FX-$44M
Net Cash Increase$172M

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

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