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 Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Monolithic Power Systems generated $832M of operating cash flow and $628M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 75.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$832M

Capex

-$205M

Free Cash Flow

$628M

FCF Margin

+75.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $628M

Cash flow breakdown for Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$832M	$832M
Capital Expenditure	-$205M	$628M
Free Cash Flow	$628M	$628M
Other Investing	$92.4M	$720M
Dividends Paid	-$303M	$417M
Other Financing & FX	$8.26M	$425M
Net Cash Increase	$426M	$426M

Operating Cash Flow$832M
Capital Expenditure-$205M
Free Cash Flow$628M
Other Investing$92.4M
Dividends Paid-$303M
Other Financing & FX$8.26M
Net Cash Increase$426M

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

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