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 Xcel Energy (XEL) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Xcel Energy generated $669M of operating cash flow and -$3.24B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -484.9% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Xcel Energy (XEL) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Xcel Energy (XEL) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$669M

Capex

-$3.91B

Free Cash Flow

-$3.24B

FCF Margin

-484.9%

Cash flow waterfall for Xcel Energy (XEL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: -$3.24B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Xcel Energy (XEL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$669M	$669M
Capital Expenditure	-$3.91B	-$3.24B
Free Cash Flow	-$3.24B	-$3.24B
Other Investing	$2.89B	-$359M
Dividends Paid	-$41M	-$400M
Net Debt Change	$1.09B	$688M
Other Financing & FX	-$146M	$542M
Net Cash Increase	$542M	$542M

Operating Cash Flow$669M
Capital Expenditure-$3.91B
Free Cash Flow-$3.24B
Other Investing$2.89B
Dividends Paid-$41M
Net Debt Change$1.09B
Other Financing & FX-$146M
Net Cash Increase$542M

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

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