Sale Of Short Term Investments (Historical)

Returns the cash proceeds from selling or maturing short-term investments for a company. This includes marketable securities, treasury bills, commercial paper, and other liquid investments.

Understanding the Metric

Short-term investments include:

  • Marketable securities
  • Treasury bills and notes
  • Commercial paper
  • Certificates of deposit
  • Money market funds

Positive values indicate cash received from investment sales or maturities. Tech companies with large cash balances often have significant short-term investment activity.

Parameters

Parameter Description
Symbol Stock ticker (e.g., AAPL, MSFT)
Year Fiscal year or period code (lq, ly, lq-1, ly-1, lt, lt-1)
Quarter Optional: 1, 2, 3, or 4 (default: 1)
TTM Optional: "TTM" for trailing twelve months

Period Codes

Code Meaning
lq Last reported quarter
lq-1 Quarter before last
ly Last fiscal year
ly-1 Year before last
lt Last trailing twelve months
lt-1 Prior trailing twelve months

Examples

=hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments("AAPL", 2023, 4)
Q4 2023 proceeds
Last fiscal year
=hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments("GOOGL", 2023, , "TTM")
TTM value
Cell references
Last quarter

When to Use

  • Analyzing corporate treasury activities
  • Understanding investment portfolio management
  • Evaluating cash and liquidity strategy
  • Calculating net investment cash flow
  • Assessing marketable securities activity

When NOT to Use

Scenario Use Instead
Need long-term investment sales hf_Sale_of_long_term_investments()
Need short-term investment purchases hf_Purchase_of_short_term_investments()
Need total cash hf_Cash_at_end_of_period()
Need marketable securities balance Check balance sheet functions

Common Issues & FAQ

Q: Why are these numbers so large for tech companies? A: Companies like Apple and Google maintain massive cash reserves invested in short-term securities. They regularly buy and sell these investments as part of normal treasury management.

Q: How does this differ from operating cash flow? A: Short-term investment activity is classified as investing, not operating. Even though these are liquid assets, buying/selling them is considered investment activity.

Q: What's the net investment activity? A: Net = Sales - Purchases. Compare hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments() with hf_Purchase_of_short_term_investments() to see if the company is building or reducing investment holdings.