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 Seagate Technology (STX) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Seagate Technology generated $2.88B of operating cash flow and $2.63B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 91.5% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Seagate Technology (STX) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Seagate Technology (STX) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.88B

Capex

-$244M

Free Cash Flow

$2.63B

FCF Margin

+91.5%

Cash flow waterfall for Seagate Technology (STX) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $2.63B

Cash flow breakdown for Seagate Technology (STX) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.88B	$2.88B
Capital Expenditure	-$244M	$2.63B
Free Cash Flow	$2.63B	$2.63B
Acquisitions	-$88M	$2.55B
Other Investing	-$167M	$2.38B
Share Buybacks	-$100M	$2.28B
Dividends Paid	-$621M	$1.66B
Net Debt Change	-$1.29B	$368M
Other Financing & FX	-$37M	$331M
Net Cash Increase	$331M	$331M

Operating Cash Flow$2.88B
Capital Expenditure-$244M
Free Cash Flow$2.63B
Acquisitions-$88M
Other Investing-$167M
Share Buybacks-$100M
Dividends Paid-$621M
Net Debt Change-$1.29B
Other Financing & FX-$37M
Net Cash Increase$331M

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

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