The massive cash pile accumulated by U.S. companies continues to grow, according to a report released Friday from Moody’s Investors Service.
U.S. non-financial companies held a total US$1.68 in cash at the end of 2015, up by 1.8% from the previous year, the report from the credit rating agency says. The top 50 firms account for US$1.14 trillion of the total cash hoard, Moody’s says, led by five tech giants, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Cisco Systems and Oracle.
“The top four cash-heavy U.S. industries remain technology, healthcare/pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and energy,” says Richard Lane, senior vice president at Moody’s, in a statement. The rating agency reports that these four industries currently hold 77% of total corporate cash.
“While the concentration of cash among the top-rated cash holders continues to grow, so too has the portion held by the technology sector, which accounted for a record 46% of total cash in 2015, up from 41% in 2014,” Lane adds.
Moody’s expects the tech sector to grow its lead over the next year due to its continued strong cash flow. The sector generated 63% of the total free cash flow for non-financial firms in 2015, the Moody’s report says, up from 37% in 2007.
On the spending side, capital spending by the top 50 firms declined by 3% to US$885 billion, the report notes, and net share buybacks fell 7% to US$269 billion. Dividends increased by 4% to a record high of US$404 billion, and acquisition spending increased 43% to a record US$401 billion.
For 2016, Moody’s expects aggregate capital spending, dividends, acquisitions, and share buybacks, to approximate US$1.9 trillion.