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 Synchrony Financial (SYF) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Synchrony Financial generated $9.83B of operating cash flow and $9.83B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 100% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Synchrony Financial (SYF) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Synchrony Financial (SYF) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$9.83B

Capex

$0.00

Free Cash Flow

$9.83B

FCF Margin

+100.0%

Cash flow waterfall for Synchrony Financial (SYF) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $9.83B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Synchrony Financial (SYF) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$9.83B	$9.83B
Capital Expenditure	$0.00	$9.83B
Free Cash Flow	$9.83B	$9.83B
Acquisitions	-$161M	$9.67B
Other Investing	-$6.77B	$2.9B
Share Buybacks	-$3.24B	-$335M
Dividends Paid	-$517M	-$852M
Net Debt Change	-$595M	-$1.45B
Other Financing & FX	-$627M	-$2.07B
Net Cash Decrease	-$2.07B	-$2.07B

Operating Cash Flow$9.83B
Capital Expenditure$0.00
Free Cash Flow$9.83B
Acquisitions-$161M
Other Investing-$6.77B
Share Buybacks-$3.24B
Dividends Paid-$517M
Net Debt Change-$595M
Other Financing & FX-$627M
Net Cash Decrease-$2.07B

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

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