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 PulteGroup (PHM) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, PulteGroup generated $1.45B of operating cash flow and $1.39B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 96% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did PulteGroup (PHM) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

PulteGroup (PHM) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.45B

Capex

-$58.6M

Free Cash Flow

$1.39B

FCF Margin

+96.0%

Cash flow waterfall for PulteGroup (PHM) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $1.39B

Cash flow breakdown for PulteGroup (PHM) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.45B	$1.45B
Capital Expenditure	-$58.6M	$1.39B
Free Cash Flow	$1.39B	$1.39B
Other Investing	$17.3M	$1.41B
Share Buybacks	-$601M	$808M
Dividends Paid	-$191M	$617M
Net Debt Change	$114M	$731M
Other Financing & FX	$9.71M	$741M
Net Cash Increase	$741M	$741M

Operating Cash Flow$1.45B
Capital Expenditure-$58.6M
Free Cash Flow$1.39B
Other Investing$17.3M
Share Buybacks-$601M
Dividends Paid-$191M
Net Debt Change$114M
Other Financing & FX$9.71M
Net Cash Increase$741M

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

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