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 Vistra (VST) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Vistra generated $4.67B of operating cash flow and $1.13B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 24.1% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Vistra (VST) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Vistra (VST) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$4.67B

Capex

-$3.55B

Free Cash Flow

$1.13B

FCF Margin

+24.1%

Cash flow waterfall for Vistra (VST) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.13B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Vistra (VST) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$4.67B	$4.67B
Capital Expenditure	-$3.55B	$1.13B
Free Cash Flow	$1.13B	$1.13B
Other Investing	-$428M	$697M
Dividends Paid	-$492M	$205M
Net Debt Change	-$492M	-$287M
Other Financing & FX	$300M	$13M
Net Cash Increase	$13M	$13M

Operating Cash Flow$4.67B
Capital Expenditure-$3.55B
Free Cash Flow$1.13B
Other Investing-$428M
Dividends Paid-$492M
Net Debt Change-$492M
Other Financing & FX$300M
Net Cash Increase$13M

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

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