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 Norfolk Southern (NSC) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Norfolk Southern generated $3.76B of operating cash flow and $3.82B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 101.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Norfolk Southern (NSC) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Norfolk Southern (NSC) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$3.76B

Capex

$67M

Free Cash Flow

$3.82B

FCF Margin

+101.8%

Cash flow waterfall for Norfolk Southern (NSC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $3.82B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Norfolk Southern (NSC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$3.76B	$3.76B
Capital Expenditure	$67M	$3.82B
Free Cash Flow	$3.82B	$3.82B
Acquisitions	$162M	$3.98B
Other Investing	-$1.98B	$2B
Share Buybacks	-$282M	$1.72B
Dividends Paid	-$1.21B	$507M
Other Financing & FX	-$172M	$335M
Net Cash Increase	$335M	$335M

Operating Cash Flow$3.76B
Capital Expenditure$67M
Free Cash Flow$3.82B
Acquisitions$162M
Other Investing-$1.98B
Share Buybacks-$282M
Dividends Paid-$1.21B
Other Financing & FX-$172M
Net Cash Increase$335M

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

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