While all major stock market indices are down 20 – 25 % from mid-January the NYSE-listed companies with no long term debt have held their cash position. On January 11, these companies, cumulatively, had a little over $16 billion in cash and today they have a similar total. The top 10 remains largely unchanged with Texas Instruments and Forest Labs separating themselves from the rest of the pack.
| Company | Cash ($ M) | Cash ($ M) 1/11/09 | Last Ranking |
| Texas Instruments | 2540 | 1993 | 1 |
| Forest Labs | 2189.84 | 1889.87 | 2 |
| Analog Devices | 1291.62 | 1310.63 | 3 |
| Lorillard | 1191 | 1208 | 4 |
| KBR | 1145 | 1110 | 5 |
| McAfee, Inc. | 593.73 | 780.14 | 6 |
| AVX Corporation | 561.16 | 600.13 | 7 |
| International Rectifier | 511.6 | 405.75 | 8 |
| Teradata Corporation | 442 | 378 | 9 |
| Bioavail | 317.55 | 226.58 | 17 |
This would be a good time to buy other companies, if you can get the financing to make it happen. In the pharmaceutical industry, Pfizer is attempting to buy Wyeth. Today, Merck announced a cash and stock deal to purchase Schering-Plough backed by $8.5 billion from JP Morgan. With market capitalizations falling and companies stock-piling cash, the amount of debt needed to finance a purchase is declining rapidly.
