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 Waters Corporation (WAT) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Waters Corporation generated $390M of operating cash flow and $264M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 67.7% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Waters Corporation (WAT) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Waters Corporation's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Waters Corporation (WAT) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$390M

Capex

-$126M

Free Cash Flow

$264M

FCF Margin

+67.7%

Cash flow waterfall for Waters Corporation (WAT) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $264M

Cash flow breakdown for Waters Corporation (WAT) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$390M	$390M
Capital Expenditure	-$126M	$264M
Free Cash Flow	$264M	$264M
Acquisitions	$109M	$373M
Other Investing	-$14.5M	$359M
Share Buybacks	-$12.7M	$346M
Net Debt Change	-$156M	$190M
Other Financing & FX	-$111M	$79M
Net Cash Increase	$79M	$79M

Operating Cash Flow$390M
Capital Expenditure-$126M
Free Cash Flow$264M
Acquisitions$109M
Other Investing-$14.5M
Share Buybacks-$12.7M
Net Debt Change-$156M
Other Financing & FX-$111M
Net Cash Increase$79M

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

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