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 Marzetti (MZTI) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Marzetti generated $317M of operating cash flow and $248M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 78.3% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Marzetti (MZTI) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Marzetti (MZTI) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$317M

Capex

-$68.9M

Free Cash Flow

$248M

FCF Margin

+78.3%

Cash flow waterfall for Marzetti (MZTI) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $248M

Cash flow breakdown for Marzetti (MZTI) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$317M	$317M
Capital Expenditure	-$68.9M	$248M
Free Cash Flow	$248M	$248M
Other Investing	-$13.6M	$234M
Share Buybacks	-$27.7M	$207M
Dividends Paid	-$108M	$99.1M
Other Financing & FX	-$5.21M	$93.9M
Net Cash Increase	$93.9M	$93.9M

Operating Cash Flow$317M
Capital Expenditure-$68.9M
Free Cash Flow$248M
Other Investing-$13.6M
Share Buybacks-$27.7M
Dividends Paid-$108M
Other Financing & FX-$5.21M
Net Cash Increase$93.9M

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

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