Top Five Cash Per Share Companies

In a scenario wherein the interest rates are high, cash is considered to be the king. In the preceding slideshow we had provided information about companies with a high amount of cash reserves in their kitty. This time we have moved a step ahead and are listing the top five companies with higher amount of cash per share. Cash per share is calculated by dividing cash on hand by the total number of shares. At the time of valuation this information comes handy. For example, if cash contributes to around 20 per cent of the share price, the actual business is available at 80 per cent only. However, excess cash is also not a good sign as it indicates that the company is not looking for growth opportunities and is foregoing prospects such as inorganic growth or even capacity expansion. The following table is a listing of the top five companies with the highest cash per share as on March 31, 2012.

Infosys
Infosys, one of the three largest Indian IT players, has been talked about a lot because of its huge cash pile and its inaction on the utilisation of these reserves. As of FY12, the IT major was sitting on a cash pile of Rs 20,591 crore (USD 4 billion) which translates to cash per share of Rs 359. This is 63.93 per cent higher than the second-highest cash per shareholder. Infosys recently acquired Lodestone Holdings and Marsh BPO but it doesn’t cause any significant reduction in the cash pile. The company now plans to return the cash to its shareholders.

Bharat Electronics Ltd
Bharat Electronics is a public sector unit and manufactures advanced electronic products for the Indian Army. BEL is one of the eight PSUs under the Ministry of Defense, Government of India. It has even earned the government’s ‘Navratna’ status. As of April 1, 2012, BEL’s order book was estimated to be around Rs 25,748 crore. This is almost five times its FY12 revenues. The best part is that the cash per share stands at Rs 219. This means that around 18 per cent of the valuation is contributed by cash.

Container Corporation of India Ltd
Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) commenced its operations in 1989 by taking over the existing network of 7 ICDs from the Indian Railways. Now the company is a market leader having the largest network of 62 ICDs/CFSs in India. In addition to providing inland transport by rail for containers, it has also expanded to cover the management of ports, air cargo complexes and establishing cold chains. For FY12 the company posted a muted performance with its topline increasing by 6 per cent to Rs 406 crore while the net profit of the company remained almost flat at the level of around Rs 87 crore. The company currently is trading at a trailing 12-month price to earnings (P/E) multiple of around 14 times. Its cash per share is about Rs 212.

Oil India Limited
Oil India Limited, a Navaratna PSU, is fourth in our list of companies with highest cash per share. It is engaged in exploration, development, production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas as well as the production of LPG. The Government of India holds 78.43 per cent of the total issued and paid-up capital of the company. Its projects are located in India, Iran, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria and Sudan. In FY12 its total revenues increased by 19 per cent to Rs 9,863.23 crore while its net profit grew by 20 per cent to Rs 3,469.18 crore. The company had a total cash of Rs 10,935 crore, leading to Rs 182 as cash per share. This cash is 38 per cent of its market capitalisation. The company has also issued bonus shares in the ratio of 3:2 this year.

Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd
Great Eastern Shipping Company is one of the largest shipping companies in India. The company is mainly engaged in two businesses i.e. shipping and offshore. The shipping business is involved in the transportation of crude oil, petroleum products, gas and dry bulk commodities. The offshore business services the oil companies in carrying out offshore exploration and production activities through its subsidiary Great Ship (India) Limited. For the fiscal year 2012 the company has shown a decent performance with its topline up by 24 per cent on a YoY basisto Rs 1,709 crore. It has, however, disappointed on the bottomline front which is down by 36 per cent on a YoY basis to Rs 122 crore. Meanwhile, the company is sitting on a cash balance of Rs 2,896 crore and the cash EPS of the company stood at Rs 172 per share.