“Apple accounted for $215.7 billion, or 12.8%, of total corporate cash in 2015, Moody’s Investors Service reported Friday,” Patrick Seitz reports for Investor’s Business Daily. “That’s up from $178 billion, or 10.7%, in 2014, and $159 billion, or 9.7%, in 2013.”
“The top five U.S. companies stockpiling cash, all tech companies, collectively held $504 billion, or 30% of the total corporate cash balance among non-financial companies. That’s up from $440 billion, or 27%, in 2014 and $404 billion, or 25%, in 2013,” Seitz reports. “The top five are: Apple, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Cisco Systems, and Oracle.”
“Microsoft, the second-most cash-rich company in the U.S., had $102.6 billion, less than half of Apple’s total,” Seitz reports. “Alphabet came in third with $73.1 billion, followed by Cisco ($60.4 billion) and Oracle ($52.3 billion).”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Until the U.S. can get an executive branch that can work with the legislative branch and fix the idiotic corporate tax morass, cash will continue to pile up outside the country (currently estimated at $1.2 trillion and counting).
As far as Apple and Apple shareholders are concerned, that cash reserve might as well be on Mars. It’s basically untouchable without a huge tax penalty, so it’s not even worth talking about. There will be no overseas tax holiday in the foreseeable future, so there’s no point in anyone boasting about how large a figure that is. Practically every other tech company can tap into their cash reserve and use it as leverage and Wall Street will instantly recognize it. Only Apple is hamstrung, as usual, and Wall Street knows it.
Not true.
Apple is first and foremost an international company, earning and investing globally.
35% tax isn’t huge when you have cash profit in hand like Apple, and Amazon or Netflix have nothing (profit) in comparison. Be worried if Apple had nothing.
“35% tax isn’t huge when you have cash profit in hand like Apple…”
Let’s see. 35% of $215.7 billion = $75.5 billion.
Oh yeah. Uh huh. Not “huge.”
Apple is borrowing and using that money for investors. The amount borrowed is offsetting the increase in cash. The net cash minus debt is about $160k, I haven’t checked the number recently, but apple has plenty of cash for its needs and the increase is being used for dividends and stock purchases. Since the cash is invested and the debt requires interest, the difference is extremely small and may even benefit apple and apple investors because interest rates are so low.
Apologies, k -> B: $160Billion
So what? It’s not just how much you have as how well you spend it.
So how’re you spending that $37.46 you got saved up total for mowing lawns? Not video games again! Good thing you don’t have pay rent being your Mom’s cellar dweller.
If Apple had a cash problem you’d be all over that but the fact they don’t it’s a “So what?” How perfectly disingenuously stupid of you. I bet you wish you had the same “so what” problem, eh loser?
That’s true. And spending a chunk of their offshore reserves in, say, India seems more provident than paying 35% in tax to repatriate the cash and then spending the remainder on overpriced American investments.
I’m an aapl investor.
what about the debt? numbers don’t seem to reflect the debt each company carries.
one star for a factual question…
maybe the one star guy can enlighten us on the issue.
in the January quarter from what I gather Apple had about 50 b in debt.
This is very shortsighted and financially illiterate. Debt is not bad. Debt can be very good. For example:
Why buy a $250k house in cash when you can borrow at 4% for 30 years and invest the $250k in cash for an 8-10% return in the same 30 years. Paying in cash has an opportunity cost of 4% over 30 years, compounded. Lots of money!
Now, extrapolate to $50 billion… Yeah, that’s right, LOTS of money can be made with cash when you can borrow at a cheap rate. Apple can, because…lets hear it… They Have Cash!
Now you’re probably asking, but cash invested is not cash is it? He’ll yeah it is. It’s just a very liquid investment that can be liquidated quickly.
So, debt is not bad.
Apple is Doomed…so debt is bad.
It’s always darkest before the Doom!
“This is very shortsighted and financially illiterate.”
what did I say that was “shortsighted and financially illiterate? Please CUT and PASTE it…
Seriously, did I Apple was in trouble because of the Debt?
did i say ONE negative thing about Apple in the post?
so WTF are you rambling about?
(I’m an Apple Investor, I think considering debt is important when mentioning how much cash a company has at hand including the OTHER companies in the type of article the author was writing )
JEEEEEZUSSS !!!
You’re an idiot.
If you really are an AAPL investor, them you would have looked at the debt to income ratio BEFORE you bought that stock. If you didn’t, then you don’t really care about debt when investing like you say.
So you’re either stupid or a liar. Which one?
Also the article was talking about cash on hand, that’s it. It was not talking about the valuation of their stock. Therefore, debt does not enter the conversation.
Liar.
moron, did I COMPLAIN at all about Apple’s debt?
god, you are stupid.
seriously dude, go back and re read my posts.
Notice how you are actually pulling stuff out of YOUR IMAGINATION about the (negative) things I’m writing about Apple and the debt.
there’s absolutely nothing there. and you just went ballistic, are you off your meds?
seriously you need to take a chill pill.
Sorry davewrite but I know little to nothing on the subject of investing.
I use One Star as a way to confuse the internet warriors, people for whom all this is desperately important.
The cash on hand is not a bad thing, and the sole reason for it is not being able to repatriate it without taxation.
Apple and other tech companies have cash reserves because they rake in a lot of money, and can’t spend it all. Simple as that. Even a company like Apple can’t find enough stuff to spend it on, and wisely does not just want to throw money at at stuff. Also with tech firms, your business is far less labor intensive than past industrial behemoths, so you don’t need to spend as much. Apple makes more with about 120,000 employees than other industrial titans made with millions of employees.
Tech firms also like to keep large cash reserves because they understand that the nature of their business is very volatile. Someone with a better idea in their garage or dorm room can instantly change the game. Tech firms tend to be a bit paranoid about that, because they’ve disrupted the market themselves. So tech firms tend to believe they need a large cash fund just in case their industry is disrupted in ways they did not foresee.
It’s foolish to paint this cash reserve as something bad, or turn it into a political issue. If Apple could bring all of their foreign cash to the US, they would still not spend it any more than they are now. They decide to spend it based on whether spending it makes for a good business decision. They certainly are not holding back spending money where they see fit.
apple has more visitor because it,s a latest and extra value in the wrold.
I love it when multinationals stockpile money and park it in offshore banks or investments in Chinese cab companies.
That’s not a dig at Apple, but at the state of affairs in our world.