Apple bought $54.945 billion of marketable securities in fiscal 2026, 6.1 times the $9.041 billion it paid for property, plant and equipment, by our arithmetic from the cash flow statement in the fourth-quarter results it filed with the SEC on 2 November. A year earlier the purchases were $24.407 billion, 1.9 times capex.
Its depreciation and amortization line, $13.423 billion, ran 1.48 times capex, against 0.92 times in fiscal 2025. Most of the securities buying was funded by bonds and notes that matured or were sold; net of those, Apple bought $5.850 billion, its first year as a net buyer since fiscal 2022, by our arithmetic on its filings.
For the twelve months to 26 September, payments for acquisition of property, plant and equipment were $9.041 billion, down 28.9% from $12.715 billion, by our arithmetic. Purchases of marketable securities were $54.945 billion, 2.25 times the $24.407 billion of fiscal 2025.
On the other side of the same section, proceeds from maturities of marketable securities were $34.815 billion and proceeds from sales $14.280 billion: $49.095 billion together, against $53.797 billion a year earlier, by our arithmetic. Investing activities used $17.280 billion of cash in fiscal 2026, after generating $15.195 billion in fiscal 2025.
Cash generated by operating activities rose 30.2% to $145.097 billion. Operating cash flow minus capex, our definition of free cash flow, was $136.056 billion, up 37.8% from $98.767 billion, by our arithmetic.
Apple capex (payments for property, plant and equipment), depreciation and amortization, and purchases of marketable securities, fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026, from the cash flow statements in its fourth-quarter results (8-K Exhibit 99.1, 2 November 2026). Purchases are gross; maturities and sales returned $49.1 billion in fiscal 2026. Ratios are our arithmetic.Animated: Apple’s purchases of marketable securities per $1 of capex (payments for property, plant and equipment), fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2026, our arithmetic from its 10-K cash flow statements (SEC EDGAR XBRL) and its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results. Purchases are gross. Values are computed from filed figures, not read from a chart. Chart: FourWeekMBA.
Business Pill · Capex and Depreciation
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on capital spending and depreciation. It explains the general idea only and does not discuss Apple or its results.
The key insight: By our arithmetic, Apple bought $54.945 billion of marketable securities in fiscal 2026, 6.1 times its $9.041 billion of capex, and $5.850 billion net of maturities and sales, while its depreciation and amortization ran 1.48 times capex. Amazon, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft spent between about $3.55 and $6.01 on capex per $1 of depreciation, or of depreciation and amortization, in their latest filings, by our arithmetic.
Net Buying, After Three Years of Selling
Subtracting maturities and sales from purchases gives a net figure. By our arithmetic on the cash flow statements in Apple’s 10-K filings and the new release, Apple was a net seller of $16.001 billion in fiscal 2023, $13.690 billion in fiscal 2024 and $29.390 billion in fiscal 2025, and a net buyer of $5.850 billion in fiscal 2026. The last year of net buying was fiscal 2022, at $9.560 billion.
The swing from fiscal 2025 to fiscal 2026 was $35.240 billion, by our arithmetic. The net buying was 4.3% of the year’s free cash flow on our definition. Marketable securities on the balance sheet, current and non-current, rose to $100.630 billion from $96.486 billion, an increase of $4.144 billion.
The gross purchases are large against capex, but not unusual for Apple. By the same arithmetic, purchases ran 15.7 times capex in fiscal 2020, 9.9 times in fiscal 2021 and 7.2 times in fiscal 2022, then 2.7, 5.2 and 1.9 times in the next three years. The fiscal 2026 multiple of 6.1 is the highest since fiscal 2022.
Depreciation and Amortization Above Capex
Depreciation and amortization of $13.423 billion was the largest figure on that line in the eleven fiscal years from 2016, according to Apple’s 10-K data on SEC EDGAR and the new release. Capex of $9.041 billion was the lowest since fiscal 2020, when it was $7.309 billion.
The ratio of the two, 1.48, is the second-highest of the eleven years, after 1.51 in fiscal 2020, by our arithmetic. It was below 1 in fiscal 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2025, and between 1.02 and 1.21 in the other years.
The line is not all wear on buildings and equipment. Apple’s 10-K for fiscal 2025 says “Depreciation expense on property, plant and equipment was $8.0 billion” that year, about $3.7 billion less than the $11.698 billion line, by our arithmetic. Net property, plant and equipment still rose in fiscal 2026, to $52.084 billion from $49.834 billion, so capex exceeded what was written off that balance.
The Same Ratio at Four AI Builders
The largest AI spenders run the other way. In their 10-Q filings for the quarter to 30 September, Amazon reported $77.259 billion of purchases of property and equipment against $20.949 billion of depreciation and amortization for the three months, about $3.69 of capex per $1, by our arithmetic. Meta reported $83.055 billion against $19.509 billion for nine months, about $4.26 per $1.
Alphabet reported $131.953 billion of purchases of property and equipment for nine months against $21.955 billion of depreciation, about $6.01 per $1, and Microsoft $39.367 billion of additions to property and equipment for its July-to-September quarter against $11.100 billion of depreciation, about $3.55 per $1. Apple’s fiscal 2026 figure on the depreciation and amortization measure was about $0.67 per $1, by our arithmetic.
As we read the cash flow statement, Apple’s spare cash went to shareholders and to its securities portfolio, not to property and equipment: capex fell 28.9% while gross securities purchases rose 2.25 times and the portfolio turned from net selling of $29.390 billion to net buying of $5.850 billion, by our arithmetic.
As we read it, the depreciation and amortization ratio says less about Apple’s buildings than it seems: in fiscal 2025 about $3.7 billion of the line was not depreciation of property, plant and equipment, by our arithmetic on its 10-K, and net property, plant and equipment still rose $2.250 billion in fiscal 2026.
Apple Inc., Form 10-K for fiscal 2025
“Depreciation expense on property, plant and equipment was $8.0 billion, $8.2 billion and $8.5 billion during 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively”
Three Implications
FOR READING APPLE’S CAPEX Capex of $9.041 billion was the lowest since fiscal 2020 and depreciation and amortization of $13.423 billion the highest of the eleven fiscal years from 2016, according to its filings; the 1.48 ratio is our arithmetic.
FOR THE SECURITIES PORTFOLIO Maturities and sales returned $49.095 billion against $54.945 billion of purchases, by our arithmetic, and marketable securities on the balance sheet rose $4.144 billion to $100.630 billion.
FOR THE COMPARISON WITH AI BUILDERS Their 10-Qs show capex of about $3.55 to $6.01 per $1 of depreciation, or depreciation and amortization, by our arithmetic, against about $0.67 at Apple; the periods and measures differ, as set out below.
The framework reads: “This is not a continuation of the cloud capex cycle. This is a different cycle, with different physics.”
As we read it, Apple’s fiscal 2026 cash flow statement sits outside that cycle: capex below depreciation and amortization, and more money placed in marketable securities than in property and equipment. The framework was published in May 2026 and does not discuss Apple’s fiscal 2026 results.
The results release does not split depreciation from amortization, and Apple’s fiscal 2026 10-K, which would, had not been filed on SEC EDGAR when we checked on 3 November. The release does not say what securities Apple bought or why purchases rose. The hyperscaler ratios mix three-month and nine-month periods and two measures, depreciation alone for Alphabet and Microsoft and depreciation and amortization for Amazon, Meta and Apple, so they show direction, not a like-for-like ranking. Gross purchases are not new money: most were funded by maturities and sales. We did not contact Apple.
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Apple bought $54.945 billion of marketable securities in fiscal 2026, 6.1 times its $9.041 billion of capex, and $5.850 billion net of maturities and sales, its first net buying since fiscal 2022. Its depreciation and amortization ran 1.48 times capex, while Amazon, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft spent between about $3.55 and $6.01 on capex for every $1 of depreciation, by our arithmetic.
A note on sourcing. Apple’s fiscal 2026 figures are from the condensed consolidated statements in its fourth-quarter results, filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to its 8-K of 2 November 2026; they are unaudited. Earlier years are from its 10-K filings via SEC EDGAR XBRL data, and the depreciation quote from its fiscal 2025 10-K. Amazon, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft figures are from their third-quarter 10-Q filings via SEC EDGAR XBRL data.
Net purchases are purchases minus maturities and sales; free cash flow is operating cash flow minus payments for property, plant and equipment; all ratios, changes and rankings are our arithmetic.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
