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 Polaris (PII) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Polaris generated $338M of operating cash flow and $161M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 47.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Polaris (PII) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Polaris (PII) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$338M

Capex

-$177M

Free Cash Flow

$161M

FCF Margin

+47.6%

Cash flow waterfall for Polaris (PII) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $161M

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by acquisitions and investment activity.

Cash flow breakdown for Polaris (PII) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$338M	$338M
Capital Expenditure	-$177M	$161M
Free Cash Flow	$161M	$161M
Other Investing	-$55.6M	$105M
Share Buybacks	-$9.2M	$95.8M
Dividends Paid	-$152M	-$55.7M
Net Debt Change	$26.6M	-$29.1M
Other Financing	$4.4M	-$24.7M
Forex Effect	-$66.5M	-$91.2M
Net Cash Decrease	-$91.2M	-$91.2M

Operating Cash Flow$338M
Capital Expenditure-$177M
Free Cash Flow$161M
Other Investing-$55.6M
Share Buybacks-$9.2M
Dividends Paid-$152M
Net Debt Change$26.6M
Other Financing$4.4M
Forex Effect-$66.5M
Net Cash Decrease-$91.2M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Polaris (PII) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

PII Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

How this company returns cash to shareholders — buybacks, dividends, and stock splits.

Forecast & Valuation