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 Pinterest (PINS) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Pinterest generated $1.25B of operating cash flow and $1.21B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 96.7% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Pinterest (PINS) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Pinterest (PINS) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.25B

Capex

-$41.4M

Free Cash Flow

$1.21B

FCF Margin

+96.7%

Cash flow waterfall for Pinterest (PINS) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.21B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Pinterest (PINS) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.25B	$1.25B
Capital Expenditure	-$41.4M	$1.21B
Free Cash Flow	$1.21B	$1.21B
Acquisitions	-$447M	$760M
Other Investing	$455M	$1.22B
Share Buybacks	-$2.7B	-$1.48B
Net Debt Change	$985M	-$498M
Other Financing & FX	-$375M	-$873M
Net Cash Decrease	-$873M	-$873M

Operating Cash Flow$1.25B
Capital Expenditure-$41.4M
Free Cash Flow$1.21B
Acquisitions-$447M
Other Investing$455M
Share Buybacks-$2.7B
Net Debt Change$985M
Other Financing & FX-$375M
Net Cash Decrease-$873M

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

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PINS Overview

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Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

Buybacks23.11% TTM

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

Forecast & Valuation