Operating cash flow swung from negative $176.5M in Q1 2025 to $73.1M in Q3 2026, with $55.2M of buybacks in Q1 2026 and steady dividends of roughly $4.4M to $14.6M per quarter, suggesting capital generation depends heavily on fee collection timing.
Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) cash flow statement — 6-year operating, investing & financing cash flows
| Metric | TTM | Dec'25 | Dec'24 | Dec'23 | Dec'22 | Dec'21 | Dec'20 |
|---|
| Cash from Operations | 108.23M | 34.79M | 223.36M | 145.88M | -17.77M | 234.91M | 85.91M |
| Operating CF Growth % | 17.26% | -84.42% | 53.11% | 920.81% | -107.57% | 173.44% | - |
| Net Income | 33.75M | 48M | -89.34M | -111.84M | -31.75M | 4.02M | -24.34M |
| Depreciation & Amortization | 24.04M | 20.83M | 20.38M | 14.68M | 10.69M | 14.49M | 15.53M |
| Deferred Taxes | 4.04M | 2.45M | -2.46M | -2.07M | -2.74M | -3.72M | -564K |
| Other Non-Cash Items | 184.65M | 244.45M | 17.28M | 16.16M | -1.96M | 64.08M | 24.04M |
| Working Capital Changes | -99M | -160.58M | 88.63M | 44.5M | -148.44M | 59M | 46.42M |
| Cash from Investing | -43.66M | 51.74M | -98K | -5.82M | -166.23M | -2.44M | -5.52M |
| Purchase of Investments | 0 | 0 | -74.91M | -89.26M | -139.17M | 0 | 0 |
| Sale/Maturity of Investments | 0 | 74.91M | 91.19M | 140.55M | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Net Investment Activity | 0 | 74.91M | 16.28M | 51.29M | -139.17M | 0 | 0 |
| Acquisitions | -36.84M | -18.86M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Investing | 0 | 0 | 0 | 488K | -500K | -978K | 0 |
| Cash from Financing | -96.68M | -168.57M | -137.25M | -67.02M | -136.77M | -55.02M | -21.99M |
| Dividends Paid | -27.36M | -22.91M | -20.28M | -27.31M | -57.3M | -71.92M | -11.99M |
| Share Repurchases | -58.44M | -33.66M | -15M | -22.49M | -104.98M | -12M | 0 |
| Stock Issued | 0 | 0 | 65.99M | 0 | 35.21M | 0 | 0 |
| Net Stock Activity | -58.44M | -33.66M | 50.99M | -22.49M | -69.77M | -12M | 0 |
| Debt Issuance (Net) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1000K | -1000K |
| Other Financing | -10.88M | -112M | -167.96M | -17.21M | -9.7M | 215.76M | 0 |
| Net Change in Cash | -35.68M | -75.72M | 82.67M | 75.94M | -330.61M | 173.87M | 64.33M |
| Exchange Rate Effect | -3.57M | 6.32M | -3.34M | 2.89M | -9.84M | -3.58M | 5.93M |
| Cash at Beginning | 116.97M | 332.77M | 250.1M | 174.17M | 504.77M | 330.91M | 266.58M |
| Cash at End | 151M | 257.05M | 332.77M | 250.1M | 174.17M | 504.77M | 330.91M |
| Interest Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 127K | 127K | 5.51M | 11.78M |
| Income Taxes Paid | 815K | 9.24M | 10.28M | 4.57M | 26M | 12.55M | 2.24M |
| Free Cash Flow | 101.42M | 30.48M | 206.98M | 88.28M | -44.33M | 233.45M | 80.39M |
| FCF Growth % | 36.7% | -85.28% | 134.45% | 299.14% | -118.99% | 190.41% | - |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying PWP stock.
Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) generated $34.8M in net cash from operating activities in 2025. This reflects the cash generated directly from core business operations.
Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) generated $30.5M in free cash flow in 2025. Free cash flow is the cash left over after capital expenditures, which can be used to pay dividends, repurchase shares, or pay down debt.
Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) spent $4.3M on capital expenditures in 2025. CapEx represents the cash invested in physical assets like property, plant, and equipment to maintain or grow the business.
In 2025, Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) returned $22.9M to shareholders via cash dividends and spent $33.7M on share repurchases. This shows the company's commitment to returning capital to its equity investors.
Key Metrics
Top Statement Risk
Lumpy success fee timing
Metrics are mathematically derived from official filings.
Operating Cash Flow Swings Obscure Capital Generation
Based on PWP's reported quarterly cash flow figures, operating cash flow ranged from negative $176.5M in Q1 2025 to positive $200.3M in Q3 2024, indicating that capital generation is driven by the timing of fee receivables and compensation accruals rather than a steady earnings stream.
The OCF-to-net-income ratios, which swing from -73.78 to 20.50, show that reported net income is a poor proxy for cash generated in any single quarter. This pattern suggests that working capital movements tied to success fee collection and bonus payouts dominate the period-to-period cash result. Investors should monitor multi-quarter cumulative OCF rather than individual quarters to judge whether underlying capital generation is sustainable.
Dividends Steady While Buybacks Fluctuate
As reported in the cash flow statement, PWP paid dividends in a narrow band of roughly $4.4M to $14.6M per quarter, while buybacks ranged from negligible amounts to $115.0M in Q3 2024, with the $55.2M repurchase in Q1 2026 following a weak earnings quarter.
The dividend outflow appears relatively stable against modest quarterly net income, which may indicate a deliberate commitment to shareholder distributions. Buybacks, by contrast, appear to be opportunistic and cluster around periods of higher operating cash, with the large Q1 2026 repurchase occurring despite net income of only $1.5M. This raises a question worth monitoring about whether repurchases are being funded from balance sheet liquidity rather than recurring earnings.
Loan Loss Line Distorts Cash Flow Reading
Based on PWP's reported figures, the loan loss line swung from $174.1M in Q3 2024 to a reversal of $271.2M in Q4 2025, a pattern that is unusual for an advisory-only model and suggests non-operating accounting adjustments dominate this line.
For a business with no meaningful lending book, large provision and reversal entries are difficult to interpret economically and likely reflect reserve or contingent accounting items. These entries inflate or depress reported earnings without a clear corresponding cash effect. Analysts should exclude this line when assessing underlying cash generation and treat its magnitude as a reason to scrutinize the earnings quality reconciliation.
Minimal Securities Activity Limits Portfolio Read
Reported purchases of investments appear only once at $74.9M in Q3 2024, with a corresponding $74.9M in sales in Q1 2025, indicating that PWP's securities portfolio activity is sparse and does not materially drive cash flow.
The near-absence of investment purchases and sales is consistent with a pure advisory model that does not maintain a large securities book. The offsetting timing of the single purchase and sale suggests short-duration treasury-style placement rather than strategic portfolio positioning. Investors should therefore treat investing cash flows as largely immaterial to the overall capital picture.
Positive Quarters May Reflect Timing Not Trend
Based on reported quarterly figures, PWP's recent positive operating cash flow of $73.1M in Q3 2026 follows a $109.7M outflow in Q1 2026, which suggests the apparent recovery may reflect collection timing rather than a durable improvement.
The Q3 2026 OCF rebound coincides with a quarter where net income of $17.6M was notably higher than the prior two quarters, but it is difficult to separate collections of prior-period success fees from genuine run-rate improvement. The CEO's commentary on a higher backlog suggests future cash could improve, but this remains unverified until fees are actually collected. Investors should monitor whether positive OCF persists across the next two quarters before treating the trend as established.