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 AT&T (T) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, AT&T generated $39.9B of operating cash flow and $17.6B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 44.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did AT&T (T) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent AT&T's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

AT&T (T) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$39.9B

Capex

-$22.2B

Free Cash Flow

$17.6B

FCF Margin

+44.2%

Cash flow waterfall for AT&T (T) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $17.6B

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

Cash flow breakdown for AT&T (T) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$39.9B	$39.9B
Capital Expenditure	-$22.2B	$17.6B
Free Cash Flow	$17.6B	$17.6B
Acquisitions	-$3.09B	$14.5B
Other Investing	$13.2B	$27.8B
Share Buybacks	-$3.32B	$24.5B
Dividends Paid	-$8.02B	$16.4B
Net Debt Change	$5.57B	$22B
Other Financing & FX	$56M	$22.1B
Net Cash Increase	$7.58B	$7.58B

Operating Cash Flow$39.9B
Capital Expenditure-$22.2B
Free Cash Flow$17.6B
Acquisitions-$3.09B
Other Investing$13.2B
Share Buybacks-$3.32B
Dividends Paid-$8.02B
Net Debt Change$5.57B
Other Financing & FX$56M
Net Cash Increase$7.58B

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

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