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 Solventum (SOLV) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Solventum generated $151M of operating cash flow and -$203M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -134.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Solventum (SOLV) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Solventum (SOLV) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$151M

Capex

-$354M

Free Cash Flow

-$203M

FCF Margin

-134.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Solventum (SOLV) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: -$203M

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

Cash flow breakdown for Solventum (SOLV) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$151M	$151M
Capital Expenditure	-$354M	-$203M
Free Cash Flow	-$203M	-$203M
Acquisitions	-$676M	-$879M
Other Investing	$3.86B	$2.99B
Share Buybacks	-$67M	$2.92B
Net Debt Change	-$2.92B	-$6M
Other Financing	$23M	$17M
Forex Effect	$7M	$24M
Net Cash Increase	$27M	$27M

Operating Cash Flow$151M
Capital Expenditure-$354M
Free Cash Flow-$203M
Acquisitions-$676M
Other Investing$3.86B
Share Buybacks-$67M
Net Debt Change-$2.92B
Other Financing$23M
Forex Effect$7M
Net Cash Increase$27M

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

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Buybacks0.59% TTM

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