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 Monster Beverage (MNST) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Monster Beverage generated $2.2B of operating cash flow and $2.07B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 94.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Monster Beverage (MNST) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Monster Beverage (MNST) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.2B

Capex

-$124M

Free Cash Flow

$2.07B

FCF Margin

+94.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Monster Beverage (MNST) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $2.07B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by acquisitions and investment activity.

Cash flow breakdown for Monster Beverage (MNST) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.2B	$2.2B
Capital Expenditure	-$124M	$2.07B
Free Cash Flow	$2.07B	$2.07B
Other Investing	-$1.68B	$389M
Share Buybacks	-$221M	$168M
Net Debt Change	-$210M	-$42.4M
Other Financing	$134M	$92M
Forex Effect	$44.3M	$136M
Net Cash Increase	$136M	$136M

Operating Cash Flow$2.2B
Capital Expenditure-$124M
Free Cash Flow$2.07B
Other Investing-$1.68B
Share Buybacks-$221M
Net Debt Change-$210M
Other Financing$134M
Forex Effect$44.3M
Net Cash Increase$136M

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

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