The Cato (The Cato) Cash, Cash Equivalents, Marketable Securities

The Cato Cash, Cash Equivalents, Marketable Securities Calculation

Cash and cash equivalents are the most liquid assets on the balance sheet. Cash equivalents are assets that are readily convertible into cash, such as money market holdings, short-term government bonds or Treasury bills, marketable securities and commercial paper.

Marketable Securities are very liquid securities that can be converted into cash quickly at a reasonable price.

The Cato  (NYSE:CATO) Cash, Cash Equivalents, Marketable Securities Explanation

Marketable securities are very liquid as they tend to have maturities of less than one year. Furthermore, the rate at which these securities can be bought or sold has little effect on their prices.

A high number means either:

1) The company has competitive advantage generating lots of cash

2) Just sold a business or bonds (not necessarily good)

A low stockpile of cash usually means poor to mediocre economics.

There are 3 ways to create large cash reserve.

1) Sell new bonds or equity to public

2) Sell business or asset

3) It has an ongoing business generating more cash than it burns (usually means durable competitive advantage)

When a company is suffering a short term problem, Buffett looks at cash or marketable securities to see whether it has the financial strength to ride it out.

Important: Lots of cash and marketable securities + little debt = good chance that the business will sail on through tough times.

Test to see what is creating cash by looking at past 7 yrs of balance sheets. This will reveal how the cash was created.

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The Cato (The Cato) Business Description