Pj568

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Many of the numbers referenced above appear to be adjusted and not actual. WB and BSX are two that jumped out as being off. One would expect adequate disclosure from the SA Editor about the numbers being referenced. Constantly reporting and discussing adjusted numbers is a sign of weakness that shouldn't be ignored.

Apple's Right To Sit on Its Cash

Before people forget, some cash is required to run the business. Apple now keeps cash and cash equivalents balances equal to current liabilities with the remainder in short term investments. So at year end cash and equivalents are 9B with short term investments at 6B. They have around another 6.5B tied up in other current liabilities with 5 of that in receivables. Inventory is only 350 million. They have no debt but could easily lever up if they wanted. They're doing great now but I'm sure they haven't forgotten the very lean days of 96 and 97 when they lost a total of 1.8B during those two years. The years 01 to 03 weren't too good either but only one was a loss year. They got debt free during 04.