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 Xylem (XYL) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Xylem generated $1.32B of operating cash flow and $966M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 73.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Xylem (XYL) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Xylem (XYL) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.32B

Capex

-$350M

Free Cash Flow

$966M

FCF Margin

+73.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Xylem (XYL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $966M

Cash flow breakdown for Xylem (XYL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.32B	$1.32B
Capital Expenditure	-$350M	$966M
Free Cash Flow	$966M	$966M
Acquisitions	-$241M	$725M
Other Investing	$59M	$784M
Share Buybacks	-$565M	$219M
Dividends Paid	-$399M	-$180M
Net Debt Change	-$82M	-$262M
Other Financing	-$22M	-$284M
Forex Effect	$34M	-$250M
Net Cash Decrease	-$251M	-$251M

Operating Cash Flow$1.32B
Capital Expenditure-$350M
Free Cash Flow$966M
Acquisitions-$241M
Other Investing$59M
Share Buybacks-$565M
Dividends Paid-$399M
Net Debt Change-$82M
Other Financing-$22M
Forex Effect$34M
Net Cash Decrease-$251M

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

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