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 Constellation Brands (STZ) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Constellation Brands generated $2.69B of operating cash flow and $1.83B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 68.1% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Constellation Brands (STZ) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Constellation Brands (STZ) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.69B

Capex

-$859M

Free Cash Flow

$1.83B

FCF Margin

+68.1%

Cash flow waterfall for Constellation Brands (STZ) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $1.83B

Cash flow breakdown for Constellation Brands (STZ) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.69B	$2.69B
Capital Expenditure	-$859M	$1.83B
Free Cash Flow	$1.83B	$1.83B
Acquisitions	$848M	$2.68B
Other Investing	$30.9M	$2.71B
Share Buybacks	-$842M	$1.87B
Dividends Paid	-$712M	$1.16B
Net Debt Change	-$1.05B	$108M
Other Financing & FX	-$85.3M	$22.7M
Net Cash Increase	$22.7M	$22.7M

Operating Cash Flow$2.69B
Capital Expenditure-$859M
Free Cash Flow$1.83B
Acquisitions$848M
Other Investing$30.9M
Share Buybacks-$842M
Dividends Paid-$712M
Net Debt Change-$1.05B
Other Financing & FX-$85.3M
Net Cash Increase$22.7M

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

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