Statistics · 2026 · Stocks
Corporate Debt and Cash Statistics (2026)
The 418 nonfinancial S&P 500 companies with a cash figure report $1.49 trillion of cash and cash equivalents, and the 382 with a long-term debt figure report $5.73 trillion, summed from their latest 10-K filings. Of 380 companies with both fields, 51 hold more cash than long-term debt. The Federal Reserve counts $15.7 trillion of nonfinancial corporate debt in the second quarter of 2026, a different measure.
Key takeaways
- Nonfinancial companies report $1.49 trillion of cash (418 companies) and $5.73 trillion of long-term debt (382 companies); the pools differ.
- 51 of 380 companies with both fields (13.4%) report more cash than long-term debt.
- The median debt-to-equity ratio is 0.67 across 352 companies, and Utilities has the highest sector median at 1.53.
- 39 of 421 nonfinancial companies have no long-term debt value and are left out of the debt sum.
- The Federal Reserve’s Z.1 release puts nonfinancial corporate debt at $15.7 trillion in 2026:Q2, including private companies.
How much cash do S&P 500 companies hold?
The 418 nonfinancial S&P 500 companies with a cash figure report $1.49 trillion of cash and cash equivalents in their latest 10-K filings. The median company reports $1.5B, and 254 report at least $1 billion. Financial companies are counted separately because their balance sheets work differently.
1. Nonfinancial S&P 500 companies report $1.49 trillion of cash
Cash is the SEC tag CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue, or the broader total that adds restricted cash when a company reports it. Marketable securities are excluded. The sum covers 418 of 421 companies with fiscal years ending in 2025 (343), 2026 (74), and 2024 (1), so it mixes balance-sheet dates (WealthyBud data · 418 companies).
2. Financials report $2.44 trillion of cash, counted separately
The 76 financials are kept out of every nonfinancial figure. Banks fund themselves mainly with deposits, which these fields do not capture. The largest cash values are at Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Bank of America (BAC) (WealthyBud data · 76 financials).
3. 3 nonfinancial companies have no cash value
FedEx Freight Holding (FDXF), PACCAR (PCAR), and SLB (SLB) have no value under either cash tag and are left out of the cash figures, not counted as zero (WealthyBud data · 421 companies).
How much long-term debt do they carry?
The 382 nonfinancial S&P 500 companies with a long-term debt figure report $5.73 trillion in total. 39 of the 421 have no value in the SEC data, the largest being Palantir Technologies, so the sum leaves them out. A missing value is not a zero.
4. Nonfinancial S&P 500 companies report $5.73 trillion of long-term debt
Long-term debt is the noncurrent balance from the first tag a company files: LongTermDebtNoncurrent (229) or LongTermDebtAndCapitalLeaseObligations, a line that also holds finance leases (108). Otherwise it is the LongTermDebt total minus its current portion (5), then the LongTermDebt total itself (29, which includes the current portion; †), then a single noncurrent debt-note line (11). A LongTermDebt total under 40% of tagged debt instruments is rejected as one instrument. The sum mixes fiscal year-ends (WealthyBud data · 382 companies).
5. 39 of 421 nonfinancial companies have no long-term debt value
They hold 4.1% of the group’s market value; the five largest are Palantir Technologies (PLTR), GE Vernova (GEV), Arista Networks (ANET), Deere (DE), and Intuitive Surgical (ISRG). A company whose debt sits under none of those tags shows no value, which is not zero debt. Airbnb (ABNB), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Sandisk (SNDK), and Western Digital (WDC) report a value of $0, kept as a real zero (WealthyBud data · 421 companies).
| Rank | Company | Long-term debt | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verizon (VZ) | $139.5B | $19.5B |
| 2 | General Motors (GM) | $131.6B† | $24.3B |
| 3 | AT&T (T) | $127.1B | $18.5B |
| 4 | Oracle (ORCL) | $122.3B | $31.3B |
| 5 | Charter Communications (CHTR) | $94.0B | $598.0M |
| 6 | Comcast (CMCSA) | $93.0B | $10.6B |
| 7 | Nextera Energy (NEE) | $89.6B | $3.0B |
| 8 | T-Mobile US (TMUS) | $81.1B | $6.0B |
| 9 | Duke Energy (DUK) | $80.1B | $363.0M |
| 10 | Apple (AAPL) | $78.3B | $35.9B |
6. The largest reported long-term debt is $139.5B, at Verizon
The table’s 10 values are 18.1% of the 382-company sum. With 39 companies unranked, this ranks the field, not actual borrowing (WealthyBud data · 382 companies).
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Which companies hold the most cash?
Amazon reports the most cash among nonfinancial S&P 500 companies at $90.1B, 6.1% of the $1.49 trillion total. The ten largest balances add up to 22.8% of it. The table shows each company’s long-term debt where the data has one.
| Rank | Company | Cash | Long-term debt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon (AMZN) | $90.1B | $65.6B |
| 2 | Meta Platforms (META) | $39.1B | $58.7B |
| 3 | Apple (AAPL) | $35.9B | $78.3B |
| 4 | Oracle (ORCL) | $31.3B | $122.3B |
| 5 | Alphabet (GOOGL) | $30.7B | $46.5B |
| 6 | UnitedHealth Group (UNH) | $24.4B | $72.3B |
| 7 | General Motors (GM) | $24.3B | $131.6B† |
| 8 | Ford Motor (F) | $23.8B | n/a |
| 9 | Microsoft (MSFT) | $20.9B | $31.1B |
| 10 | Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | $19.7B | $39.4B |
The three largest balances, as shares of the nonfinancial total:
- Amazon (AMZN) reported $90.1B, 6.1% of the total.
- Meta Platforms (META) reported $39.1B, 2.6% of the total.
- Apple (AAPL) reported $35.9B, 2.4% of the total.
How many companies have more cash than long-term debt?
51 of the 380 nonfinancial companies with both a cash and a long-term debt figure report more cash than long-term debt, 13.4% of that pool. 41 others cannot be tested because a field is missing. The test uses long-term debt only, not total borrowings.
7. 51 of 380 companies report more cash than long-term debt (13.4%)
The base is the 380 nonfinancial companies with both fields; 4 of the 51 report zero long-term debt. Together they report $1.39 trillion of cash and $5.71 trillion of long-term debt. Short-term borrowings are ignored, so this is not a net-debt measure, and the 41 untestable companies are not counted (WealthyBud data · 380 companies).
8. Largest cash-over-debt gap: $24.5B at Amazon
Cash minus long-term debt is largest at Amazon (AMZN) ($24.5B), Airbnb (ABNB) ($13.5B), and Tesla (TSLA)† ($9.9B) (WealthyBud data · 380 companies).
Which sectors carry the most debt?
By median debt-to-equity, Utilities ranks highest among nonfinancial sectors at 1.53, and Information Technology ranks lowest at 0.39. The all-sector median is 0.67. The ratio divides long-term debt by year-end equity, so it covers only companies with both and positive equity.
| Sector | Companies | Median debt-to-equity | Median current ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utilities | 31 | 1.530 (n=30) | 0.77 (n=31) |
| Communication Services | 20 | 0.903 (n=19) | 1.12 (n=20) |
| Real Estate | 29 | 0.840 (n=18) | 0.92 (n=8) |
| Consumer Discretionary | 47 | 0.791 (n=27) | 1.23 (n=43) |
| Materials | 25 | 0.665 (n=25) | 1.62 (n=25) |
| Health Care | 60 | 0.663 (n=49) | 1.56 (n=60) |
| Consumer Staples | 33 | 0.657 (n=30) | 1.01 (n=33) |
| Industrials | 82 | 0.585 (n=71) | 1.26 (n=79) |
| Energy | 20 | 0.408 (n=19) | 1.15 (n=20) |
| Information Technology | 74 | 0.395 (n=64) | 1.61 (n=74) |
9. Median debt-to-equity: 0.67 across 352 nonfinancial companies
Debt-to-equity is the long-term debt field divided by year-end shareholders’ equity from the same 10-K. It is blank when equity is zero or negative, which excludes 30 companies: ABBV, AZO, BKNG, CAH, CCI, DELL, DPZ, DVA, FDXF, FICO, HCA, HLT, HPQ, IRM, LOW, MAR, MAS, MCD, MCK, MO, MTD, ORLY, OTIS, PM, SBAC, SBUX, TDG, VRSN, WYNN, and YUM. 39 more with positive equity lack a debt value (WealthyBud data · 352 companies).
10. Median current ratio: 1.26 across 393 nonfinancial companies
Current assets divided by current liabilities; sector medians run from 0.77 in Utilities to 1.62 in Materials. 28 companies have no current totals, and Real Estate has fewer than 10 companies with it (WealthyBud data · 393 companies).
11. Financials: median debt-to-equity 0.57 across 57 companies, shown separately
58 of 76 financials have a long-term debt value and 25 a current ratio (1.10 median). The largest debt values are at JPMorgan Chase (JPM) ($435.2B†, bank, SIC 6021), Morgan Stanley (MS) ($341.7B†, broker-dealer, SIC 6211), and Bank of America (BAC) ($317.8B†, bank, SIC 6021). 29 of the 58 financials’ figures are totals that include the current portion (†), the same tag basis as above. These ratios do not compare with the table (WealthyBud data · 76 financials).
How much U.S. corporate debt is outstanding?
The Federal Reserve’s Z.1 release of September 11, 2026 puts nonfinancial corporate debt securities and loans at $15.7 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2026. That national-accounts total covers public and private nonfinancial corporations. It is a different measure from the S&P 500 sums above, so this page does not compare them.
12. Federal Reserve Z.1: corporate debt was $15.7 trillion in 2026:Q2
The release of September 11, 2026 says: “Corporate debt was $15.7 trillion in the second quarter” and that the sector “consists of both publicly traded and privately owned nonfinancial corporations.” The table D.3.s series “Nonfinancial corporate business; debt securities and loans; liability” (LA104104005.Q) shows $15,698.6 billion, seasonally adjusted, end of period.
13. Z.1: debt securities were $9.2 trillion, 58.5% of corporate debt
The release says: “Debt securities amounted to $9.2 trillion, accounting for 58.5% of total corporate debt outstanding,” and private credit loans “now represent 7.1% of corporate debt.” The 2026:Q2 level is 5.4% above 2025:Q2, WealthyBud’s calculation from the same series.
14. Federal Reserve Financial Stability Report: business and household debt vulnerabilities “remained moderate”
The Board’s May 2026 report (data as of April 23, 2026) says: “Vulnerabilities from business and household debt remained moderate.” It also says: “Some measures of the leverage of publicly traded firms stayed high relative to their historical distributions, but solid interest coverage ratios (ICRs) suggest these firms remained well positioned to continue servicing their debt.”
15. Financial Stability Report: debt-servicing capacity “was lower among some” firms
The same report says: “Debt-servicing capacity was lower among some publicly traded non-investment-grade firms and riskier private firms, especially those that rely on floating-rate debt such as leveraged loans and private credit.” These are the Fed’s words from its borrowing chapter; this page adds no conclusion.
What this means for investors
Read the field before the number. Cash here excludes marketable securities, and 29 companies’ long-term debt includes the current portion. Check the 10-K before comparing two names; the stock pages are a start.
Compare within a sector. Median debt-to-equity runs from 0.39 in Information Technology to 1.53 in Utilities; the methodology explains each field.
Keep the national and company views apart. The Fed’s figure covers every nonfinancial corporation; for rates, see interest rates and stocks.
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