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

Syntax

=hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments(Symbol, Year, [Quarter], [TTM])
Excel Desktop (Windows)

Parameters

symbolstringRequired

Stock ticker symbol

yearstringRequired

Fiscal year (e.g., 2023) or period code (lq, lq-1, ly, ly-1, lt, lt-1)

quarterstring

Calendar quarter (1-4)

TTMstring

Set to 'TTM' for trailing twelve months

Returns

number

Proceeds from sale/maturity of short-term investments (in currency units)

Examples

=hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments("AAPL", 2023, 4)
Q4 2023 proceeds
=hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments("MSFT", "ly")
Last fiscal year
=hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments("GOOGL", 2023, , "TTM")
TTM value
=hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments(A1, B1, C1)
Cell references
=hf_Sale_of_short_term_investments("META", "lq")
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

Why are these numbers so large for tech companies?

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.

How does this differ from operating cash flow?

Short-term investment activity is classified as investing, not operating. Even though these are liquid assets, buying/selling them is considered investment activity.

What's the net investment activity?

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.