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 Northrop Grumman (NOC) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Northrop Grumman generated $5.08B of operating cash flow and $3.65B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 71.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Northrop Grumman (NOC) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Northrop Grumman (NOC) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$5.08B

Capex

-$1.43B

Free Cash Flow

$3.65B

FCF Margin

+71.8%

Cash flow waterfall for Northrop Grumman (NOC) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $3.65B

Cash flow breakdown for Northrop Grumman (NOC) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$5.08B	$5.08B
Capital Expenditure	-$1.43B	$3.65B
Free Cash Flow	$3.65B	$3.65B
Acquisitions	-$333M	$3.31B
Other Investing	$437M	$3.75B
Share Buybacks	-$801M	$2.95B
Dividends Paid	-$1.34B	$1.61B
Net Debt Change	-$1.09B	$513M
Other Financing & FX	-$105M	$408M
Net Cash Increase	$408M	$408M

Operating Cash Flow$5.08B
Capital Expenditure-$1.43B
Free Cash Flow$3.65B
Acquisitions-$333M
Other Investing$437M
Share Buybacks-$801M
Dividends Paid-$1.34B
Net Debt Change-$1.09B
Other Financing & FX-$105M
Net Cash Increase$408M

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

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