Apple has more cash overseas than any other US corporation

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Apple has more cash overseas than any other US corporation

Investment bank Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) released a note to its investors on Monday that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) tops the list of technology companies in the United States with sizable income overseas. According to the report, Apple holds an estimated $74 billion cash, out of its $100b of cash. Its cash overseas is higher than the recorded $64 billion last year and $35 billion in 2010. Presumably, Apple has more than any other non-tech company as well.

Other companies outperformed by Apple in overseas cash contributions include Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) with $50 billion, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) with $42.3 billion, Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) with $25.1 billion and QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) with $16.5 billion.

Richard Lane of Moody’s Investors Service cited in his note to employers, that figures regarding Apple’s stockpile of cash overseas was determined based on the company’s SEC filings and from Moody’s own estimates. Lane noted that the fraction of Apple’s cash holdings overseas is one third of the total money held by its fellow technology companies.

Moody’s also reported that the total contributions of U.S. technology companies abroad is $227 billion, almost 50% percent of the total cash held by all of the American companies overseas during the first quarter last year.

According to the report, cash flows overseas increased by 31 percent year-over-year growth from the March 2011 to March 2012. Excluding Apple’s cash contributions, the cash growth rate abroad for the same period is 15%.

Moody’s reported that the top ten U.S. tech companies currently hold 83% of the total cash in the technology industry overseas. A nine percent increase compared with the recorded 74% offshore contributions five years ago.

Meanwhile, earlier today Greenlight Capital president David Einhorn told CNBC Squawk Box interview that he is “bullish” on Apple’s stock . He said the company is undervalued and expects the iPhone and iPad maker to become the “first trillion-dollar company.”

Einhorn said, “We’re not in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for a quarter, we’re two, three years into the Apple investment, and the way it seems headed, it’s likely we’ll be there for a good while longer.  I think the stock is very, very substantially undervalued. It’s the best big growth company we have, it is the dominating brand in the area that it is. It trades below the multiple on average of the S&P 500 I think that’s extraordinary.”

He also laid out a detailed case for his bullishness, in Greenlight Capital’s first quarter letter.

Apple’s stock is slightly down by 0.93% today at $608.21 per share. The company’s shares were up by 43% this year.

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