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 Cloudflare (NET) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Cloudflare generated $679M of operating cash flow and $356M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 52.3% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Cloudflare (NET) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Cloudflare (NET) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$679M

Capex

-$324M

Free Cash Flow

$356M

FCF Margin

+52.3%

Cash flow waterfall for Cloudflare (NET) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $356M

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

Cash flow breakdown for Cloudflare (NET) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$679M	$679M
Capital Expenditure	-$324M	$356M
Free Cash Flow	$356M	$356M
Acquisitions	-$50.9M	$305M
Other Investing	-$1.5B	-$1.19B
Net Debt Change	$1.93B	$740M
Other Financing & FX	-$5.46M	$734M
Net Cash Increase	$734M	$734M

Operating Cash Flow$679M
Capital Expenditure-$324M
Free Cash Flow$356M
Acquisitions-$50.9M
Other Investing-$1.5B
Net Debt Change$1.93B
Other Financing & FX-$5.46M
Net Cash Increase$734M

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

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