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 Rockwell Automation (ROK) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Rockwell Automation generated $1.54B of operating cash flow and $1.34B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 87.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Rockwell Automation (ROK) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Rockwell Automation (ROK) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.54B

Capex

-$196M

Free Cash Flow

$1.34B

FCF Margin

+87.2%

Cash flow waterfall for Rockwell Automation (ROK) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.34B

Cash flow breakdown for Rockwell Automation (ROK) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.54B	$1.54B
Capital Expenditure	-$196M	$1.34B
Free Cash Flow	$1.34B	$1.34B
Other Investing	-$17M	$1.32B
Share Buybacks	-$792M	$530M
Dividends Paid	-$603M	-$73M
Net Debt Change	-$51M	-$124M
Other Financing & FX	$136M	$12M
Net Cash Increase	$12M	$12M

Operating Cash Flow$1.54B
Capital Expenditure-$196M
Free Cash Flow$1.34B
Other Investing-$17M
Share Buybacks-$792M
Dividends Paid-$603M
Net Debt Change-$51M
Other Financing & FX$136M
Net Cash Increase$12M

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

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