Cash & Equivalents per Share

Category

Ratios

Units

Currency per share

Formula

Cash and Cash Equivalents / Shares Outstanding

Source

Calculated by GeminIQ from figures reported in SEC filings

Cash and equivalents per share is a company's cash and cash equivalents divided by the number of common shares outstanding. It shows how much of each share's price is backed by cash the company holds at the balance-sheet date.

The measure uses gross cash. It does not subtract debt, so a company can have high cash per share and still owe far more than it holds.

Cash per share is calculated from figures reported in SEC filings. The numerator is the balance-sheet cash line, reported under Regulation S-X Rule 5-02.1 (Cash and cash items) and usually tagged CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue in XBRL. Cash equivalents are short-term, highly liquid investments close enough to maturity that their value is unlikely to change meaningfully with interest rates; under ASC 230 that generally means original maturities of three months or less. The denominator is common shares outstanding at the same date.

What counts as cash varies. Many companies hold large amounts in marketable securities with longer maturities, which fall outside cash equivalents and are reported separately as short-term investments. A version built on cash and short-term investments can be much higher than one built on cash alone. Restricted cash, which is set aside for a specific purpose and not freely available, is usually excluded from the balance-sheet cash line. Cash held by foreign subsidiaries may also be less accessible than the headline figure suggests.

Investors compare cash per share with the share price to see how much of the market value is covered by liquid assets, which is most relevant for companies with little debt or those burning cash, such as early-stage biotech firms. For a fuller picture, pair it with net debt, since a company's creditors have a claim on its cash ahead of shareholders.