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 Tesla (TSLA) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Tesla generated $16.5B of operating cash flow and $7B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 42.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Tesla (TSLA) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Tesla (TSLA) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$16.5B

Capex

-$9.53B

Free Cash Flow

$7B

FCF Margin

+42.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Tesla (TSLA) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $7B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Tesla (TSLA) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$16.5B	$16.5B
Capital Expenditure	-$9.53B	$7B
Free Cash Flow	$7B	$7B
Other Investing	-$9.32B	-$2.32B
Net Debt Change	-$1.65B	-$3.97B
Other Financing & FX	$4.38B	$405M
Net Cash Increase	$405M	$405M

Operating Cash Flow$16.5B
Capital Expenditure-$9.53B
Free Cash Flow$7B
Other Investing-$9.32B
Net Debt Change-$1.65B
Other Financing & FX$4.38B
Net Cash Increase$405M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Tesla (TSLA) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

TSLA Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

How this company returns cash to shareholders — buybacks, dividends, and stock splits.

Forecast & Valuation