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 Motorola Solutions (MSI) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Motorola Solutions generated $2.78B of operating cash flow and $2.49B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 89.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Motorola Solutions (MSI) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Motorola Solutions (MSI) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.78B

Capex

-$290M

Free Cash Flow

$2.49B

FCF Margin

+89.6%

Cash flow waterfall for Motorola Solutions (MSI) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $2.49B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by purchases or sales of investments.

Cash flow breakdown for Motorola Solutions (MSI) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.78B	$2.78B
Capital Expenditure	-$290M	$2.49B
Free Cash Flow	$2.49B	$2.49B
Acquisitions	$451M	$2.94B
Other Investing	-$5.03B	-$2.09B
Share Buybacks	-$947M	-$3.04B
Dividends Paid	-$747M	-$3.79B
Net Debt Change	$2.96B	-$831M
Other Financing & FX	$153M	-$678M
Net Cash Decrease	-$678M	-$678M

Operating Cash Flow$2.78B
Capital Expenditure-$290M
Free Cash Flow$2.49B
Acquisitions$451M
Other Investing-$5.03B
Share Buybacks-$947M
Dividends Paid-$747M
Net Debt Change$2.96B
Other Financing & FX$153M
Net Cash Decrease-$678M

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

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