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 West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, West Pharmaceutical Services generated $715M of operating cash flow and $458M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 64% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$715M

Capex

-$257M

Free Cash Flow

$458M

FCF Margin

+64.0%

Cash flow waterfall for West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $458M

Cash flow breakdown for West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$715M	$715M
Capital Expenditure	-$257M	$458M
Free Cash Flow	$458M	$458M
Share Buybacks	-$298M	$160M
Dividends Paid	-$61.8M	$97.8M
Other Financing & FX	$19.4M	$117M
Net Cash Increase	$117M	$117M

Operating Cash Flow$715M
Capital Expenditure-$257M
Free Cash Flow$458M
Share Buybacks-$298M
Dividends Paid-$61.8M
Other Financing & FX$19.4M
Net Cash Increase$117M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) 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

WST Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

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

Forecast & Valuation