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 3M (MMM) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, 3M generated $4.9B of operating cash flow and $3.99B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 81.3% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did 3M (MMM) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent 3M's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

3M (MMM) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$4.9B

Capex

-$914M

Free Cash Flow

$3.99B

FCF Margin

+81.3%

Cash flow waterfall for 3M (MMM) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $3.99B

Cash flow breakdown for 3M (MMM) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$4.9B	$4.9B
Capital Expenditure	-$914M	$3.99B
Free Cash Flow	$3.99B	$3.99B
Other Investing	$551M	$4.54B
Share Buybacks	-$2.59B	$1.95B
Dividends Paid	-$4.58B	-$2.63B
Net Debt Change	-$565M	-$3.2B
Other Financing & FX	$4.46B	$1.26B
Net Cash Increase	$1.26B	$1.26B

Operating Cash Flow$4.9B
Capital Expenditure-$914M
Free Cash Flow$3.99B
Other Investing$551M
Share Buybacks-$2.59B
Dividends Paid-$4.58B
Net Debt Change-$565M
Other Financing & FX$4.46B
Net Cash Increase$1.26B

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

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