Page 15 - ISQ UK_October 2017
P. 15
OCTOBER 2017
Q. HOW ARE THE BIG COMPANIES USING ALL a percentage of current assets has basically doubled since 2000.
THAT CASH? Naturally, companies have had to find effective ways to use this
cash; there has been a clear uptick in dividends, share buybacks,
A. The success of the mega-cap stocks has not only produced merger & acquisitions activity, and capital expenditures over the
extraordinary profits, but it has also left the big tech companies last several years. The share buyback policies have come under
with unprecedented levels of cash. As of June 2017, Apple, some criticism since they can help artificially boost earnings and
Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook together held $330 sales per share numbers. However, buying back stock has been
billion in cash (net of debt), and the S&P 500’s corporate cash as shown to help shareholders, and that is not the only way companies
SMARTPHONES CONTAIN ROUGHLY
$900,000
WORTH OF APPLICATIONS
14
14
