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 Stepan (SCL) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Stepan generated $158M of operating cash flow and -$19.3M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -12.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Stepan (SCL) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Stepan (SCL) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$158M

Capex

-$177M

Free Cash Flow

-$19.3M

FCF Margin

-12.2%

Cash flow waterfall for Stepan (SCL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: -$19.3M

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

Cash flow breakdown for Stepan (SCL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$158M	$158M
Capital Expenditure	-$177M	-$19.3M
Free Cash Flow	-$19.3M	-$19.3M
Acquisitions	$26.6M	$7.33M
Other Investing	$65M	$72.3M
Dividends Paid	-$35.3M	$37M
Net Debt Change	-$7.57M	$29.4M
Other Financing	-$1.72M	$27.7M
Forex Effect	$5.56M	$33.3M
Net Cash Increase	$33.3M	$33.3M

Operating Cash Flow$158M
Capital Expenditure-$177M
Free Cash Flow-$19.3M
Acquisitions$26.6M
Other Investing$65M
Dividends Paid-$35.3M
Net Debt Change-$7.57M
Other Financing-$1.72M
Forex Effect$5.56M
Net Cash Increase$33.3M

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

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