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 Steel Dynamics (STLD) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Steel Dynamics generated $1.57B of operating cash flow and $956M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 60.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Steel Dynamics (STLD) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Steel Dynamics's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Steel Dynamics (STLD) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.57B

Capex

-$616M

Free Cash Flow

$956M

FCF Margin

+60.8%

Cash flow waterfall for Steel Dynamics (STLD) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $956M

Cash flow breakdown for Steel Dynamics (STLD) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.57B	$1.57B
Capital Expenditure	-$616M	$956M
Free Cash Flow	$956M	$956M
Acquisitions	-$176M	$780M
Other Investing	$44.2M	$824M
Share Buybacks	-$766M	$57.9M
Dividends Paid	-$296M	-$238M
Net Debt Change	$397M	$159M
Other Financing & FX	-$49.1M	$110M
Net Cash Increase	$110M	$110M

Operating Cash Flow$1.57B
Capital Expenditure-$616M
Free Cash Flow$956M
Acquisitions-$176M
Other Investing$44.2M
Share Buybacks-$766M
Dividends Paid-$296M
Net Debt Change$397M
Other Financing & FX-$49.1M
Net Cash Increase$110M

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

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