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 V.F. (VFC) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, V.F. generated $659M of operating cash flow and $510M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 77.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did V.F. (VFC) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

V.F. (VFC) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$659M

Capex

-$149M

Free Cash Flow

$510M

FCF Margin

+77.4%

Cash flow waterfall for V.F. (VFC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $510M

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

Cash flow breakdown for V.F. (VFC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$659M	$659M
Capital Expenditure	-$149M	$510M
Free Cash Flow	$510M	$510M
Acquisitions	-$1.5B	-$987M
Other Investing	$2.05B	$1.07B
Dividends Paid	-$141M	$925M
Net Debt Change	-$585M	$340M
Other Financing	$803K	$341M
Forex Effect	$49.8M	$390M
Net Cash Increase	$390M	$390M

Operating Cash Flow$659M
Capital Expenditure-$149M
Free Cash Flow$510M
Acquisitions-$1.5B
Other Investing$2.05B
Dividends Paid-$141M
Net Debt Change-$585M
Other Financing$803K
Forex Effect$49.8M
Net Cash Increase$390M

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

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