Don’t Hold Your Breath for Dividends From These Tech Giants

Tech companies are sitting on piles of cash that would make Scrooge McDuck from DuckTales envious. But they aren't putting it to work to hire workers, buy equipment, or pay shareholders. Isn't it their responsibility to do something with the cash?
One explanation is that companies like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) are holding most of their cash overseas. At the end of the first quarter, these companies had $42 billion, $40.2 billion, and $38.8 billion in foreign cash on hand respectively. Bringing that home would create a big tax hit. But there’s another factor that will keep these companies from paying investors back, at least in the form of dividends, anytime soon: stock options.... Read more