How do you read Cash and short-term investments?

It is the company's cushion for hard years and the source for investment, dividends and buybacks. It is a picture of one day, the end of the quarter: it can change a lot within a few months.

Cash and short-term investments

Debt and balance sheet

The money the company has available at once or almost at once.

How it is worked out

Cash and deposits plus securities that can easily be sold within a year, from the balance sheet.

How to read it

It is the company's cushion for hard years and the source for investment, dividends and buybacks.
It is a picture of one day, the end of the quarter: it can change a lot within a few months.

Example

$400m of deposits and $600m of Treasury bills: $1bn of cash and short-term investments.

Related terms

The other pages on US stocks, free to read. On the company pages, the last three fiscal years are open to everyone, five with a free account, and every year with Ploutos Investor.

US stocksThe market today, the sectors, the largest companies and the week's results.The market's sectorsThe 11 sectors side by side: returns, share of the market, median P/E and dividend.Compare stocksTwo companies side by side: price over up to ten years, with and without dividends, and every figure.US dividend stocksEach dividend's yield next to whether the company's cash covers it and whether it was ever cut.

Explanations of terms for learning, with examples from SEC filings.