As I pointed out in the post, Apple, Microsoft and Cisco all have huge cash positions outside the country: each of them, in fact, hold the vast majority of their balance sheet cash in foreign accounts.
FORBES: Revealed: How U.S. Companies Can Repatriate Cash Tax Free
In a cash-balance plan, the company contributes a set amount of salary for each worker every year to a theoretical account for him (even though the money is actually managed in one big pot), and then credits his account with some guaranteed annual return--typically the yield on 30-year Treasuries.
"Airgas could become distressed in a severe downturn because it carries no cash on its balance sheet, and has everything in receivables, " says analyst Christopher Crooks of Janney Montgomery Scott.
The big difference between traditional and cash-balance plans lies in the way workers accrue benefits.
The narrowest measure of the money supply - in effect, cash on bank balance sheets - has risen by 58% since September, as you'd expect when the Bank is handing their customers all that freshly created money in exchange for the purchased gilts.
The strong cash flows generated by the company along with the absence of debt have resulted in a sturdy balance sheet and abundant free cash.
In addition, Alliance Fiber sports a debt-free balance sheet with 75 cents per share in cash, while Bookham's price-to-sales ratio is 1.6.
Another option is to adopt a Cash Balance Plan, which is used in Nebraska and by some large private employers.
Small-caps could enjoy a strong 2013 and beyond, given cheap valuations, cash rich balance sheets and an expected reacceleration in earnings growth.
All four of them have added around 21.6 billion rupees to their cash balances in the past year with Reliance alone adding 12.4 billion rupees to its cash balance.
FORBES: Like U.S. Peers, India Corporates Hold Cash, Not Spending
That less cash devoted to such things is now sitting in their balance sheets.
FORBES: Explaining The Corporate Cash Glut: It's Not All about Tax Avoidance
Since these accounts exist as entries on the employer's balance sheet, rather than as cash in the bank, they are still tax-free.
The ability to carry a balance can come in handy when cash is tight, and the itemized monthly statements simplify things at tax time.
And so, last week, there were picketers outside and raw emotions inside at hearings on rules that would end a moratorium the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed in 1999 on giving its blessings to cash-balance conversions.
Why are large corporation CFOs still clutching cash as if their companies' very lives were in the balance?
Many believe capital deployment should follow a "pecking-order theory" that prescribes that managements should apply their cash flow, in order of priority, to fix their balance sheet if overleveraged, fund organic investments, pay dividends, fund acquisitive growth and, only when there is additional cash left over, to distribute it via share repurchases.
The record amount of cash on public company balance sheets currently earns nada, nothing in terms of interest income.
Financially, Apollo Group is in stellar shape with a massive net cash position on its balance sheet, and significant free cash flow generation capabilities.
If the latter, you would probably be better off putting two-thirds (or more) of your money in cash investments and buying a straightforward index fund with the balance.
Consequently, as we look at companies today with a lot of cash on their balance sheets, but a lot of uncertainty in the macro environment, technology is actually a very interesting place for companies to make capital investments today, because technology investments tend to be productivity enhancing and not capacity enhancing.
Similarly, Apple, having gone through traumatic events in the past, is content to let the cash on its balance sheet pile up.
FORBES: David Einhorn Still Thinks Apple Can Reach $1000 Per Share
Though Japan is often cast as a has-been in Asia as it has been battling a years-long slump, corporate balance sheets are in good shape and flush with cash.
For instance, in the U.S., non-financial corporate cash on balance sheet is at a 50-year high at nearly 6%, according to Credit Suisse.
The climbing cash levels on corporate balance sheets makes it likely that all four will increase in 2011.
FORBES: Corporate Coffers Bulging With Greenbacks (Euros And Yen Too)
Meanwhile, they lost sight of improving balance sheets and excess cash flow, a first for this industry in its 35-year jet history.
Cash flows have been strong in the last few years, and a relatively trim balance sheet leaves plenty of room for another dividend hike in 2012.
Asian central banks that want to balance their dollar holdings with euros may choose to park their cash in France or Germany and save themselves any worries about Greece and its politics.
With plenty of free cash flow and strong balance sheets, the companies listed above, despite being in a very volatile industry with high operating leverage, would seem to be able to weather all but the most extreme technology slumps.
Additionally it will also help Jones to improve its balance sheet and allow the company to leverage the additional cash by investing in its more profitable luxury operations.
FORBES: Jones Contemplates Losing Its Jeans, Stock Going To $15
In parallel, the sector leaders with hundreds of billions of dollars of cash on their balance sheets are under pressure to reposition their technology assets to address the mobile internet.
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