These tech giants have the largest cash stockpiles
U.S. corporations have held onto less money in the wake of the implementation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a new report showed, but some big names in the tech sector still have massive stockpiles.
According to credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Services, 949 non-financial companies held $1.8 trillion as of June, which is a 9.5 percent decline from the record $1.99 trillion recorded at the end of 2017 – a trend the firm expects to continue.
“With companies’ improved access to global cash, we expect aggregate cash balances to continue to fall, particularly as many cash-rich firms repay maturing debt and increase returns to shareholders,” Richard Lane, a Moody’s senior vice president, said in a statement.
Capital spending rose 9 percent to $830 billion between the end of last year and June 30. Meanwhile, share buybacks increased to a record $405 billion.
Despite overall declines, a few companies still have a large share of cash.
The companies with the largest corporate stockpiles are all in the tech sector: the top five hold a collective $601 billion – or 33 percent of the total as of June. That is a one percent decline over last year’s totals.
These are the companies with the most cash:
Apple
Tech darling Apple accounted for 13.5 percent of non-financial corporate cash, at $244 billion. Apple’s holdings alone are larger than totals in any sector, with the exception of technology.
At the end of 2017, the company had $285 billion, with $252 billion worth of offshore liquidity reported.
Microsoft
As of June 30, Microsoft has a cash stockpile worth $138.8 billion – a far cry from Apple, but the second largest out of the non-financial companies examined.
Alphabet
Google’s parent company Alphabet was holding onto $102.3 billion at the end of June.
Compared with the other companies in the top five, Alphabet held the lowest proportion of its cash offshore last year, at 62 percent.
Oracle
With the fourth-largest cash stockpile, Oracle had about $67.3 billion at midyear.
Cisco
Cisco had a cash stockpile worth $54.4 billion as of June. In 2017, the company held 97 percent on its cash offshore.