Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) at some of the nation's biggest companies have a problem on their hands. They're tasked with watching over billions, tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars every day, making sure to find ways to deliver the best returns to shareholders while keeping enough aside for a rainy day. With interest rates sitting at multi-decade lows, these executives can't afford to let the money just sit there. That's why more of them are looking at share buybacks, dividends, acquisitions or higher levels of capital spending to take some of that cash off of the sidelines and put it into action.
This is good news for investors. Because the more cash a company deploys, the better the chances of bolstering the stock price.
We took a look at the cash balances of leading corporations and were stunned to find how much some companies were sitting on. In some instances, these companies have such a large amount of cash that it equals or surpasses what some countries produce in terms of annual economic activity (GDP).
Here are 10 companies sitting on stunning amounts of cash (we excluded traditional banks, which must have large cash balances to meet liquidity requirements).
What are they doing with that money? Each one is using cash as a strategic weapon, boosting shareholder returns by any means possible.
1. Chevron (NYSE: CVX)
Cash Balance: $43 billion |
.jpg) Selling oil and gas is so profitable that three of this industry's biggest players make the grade when it comes to major cash positions.
Chevron has $43 billion in the bank at last count, and with more than $8 billion in annual free cash flow, look for that figure to keep on rising.
David Sterman
David Sterman has worked as an investment analyst for nearly two decades. He is currently an analyst for StreetAuthority.com
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