Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Current Ratio Trends

The current ratio exhibited a general upward trend from February 2019 through October 2023, increasing from 1.27 to a peak of 2.82 in that period. This indicates an improving liquidity position over those years, suggesting enhanced capability to meet short-term obligations. However, from February 2024 onwards, there is a marked decline with values dropping sharply from 1.33 down to 1.00 by February 2025 before a minor recovery to 1.08 in May 2025. This recent decline signals a potential reduction in working capital or increased short-term liabilities relative to current assets.

Quick Ratio Trends

The quick ratio follows a similar pattern to the current ratio initially, rising from 1.05 in February 2019 to reach a high of 2.34 in October 2023. This indicates that the company improved its ability to quickly cover current liabilities without relying on inventory over this period. Notably, from February 2024 onwards, there is a sharp decrease to 0.68 by February 2025, reflecting a weakened liquidity status when considering more liquid assets. The decline is less pronounced in the last data point, with a slight increase to 0.73, but remains substantially below previous years' levels.

Cash Ratio Trends

The cash ratio also demonstrates strong growth between February 2019 and October 2023, rising from 0.61 to 1.92. This reflects a significant increase in the company’s most liquid assets (cash and cash equivalents) relative to current liabilities. However, similar to the other ratios, the cash ratio experiences a steep decline starting in early 2024, falling below 0.50 by February 2025, indicating a considerable reduction in cash reserves relative to short-term obligations. The slight uptick to 0.46 in the May 2025 data point suggests a marginal improvement but remains at a much lower level than the prior period peak.

Overall Liquidity Analysis

In summary, liquidity ratios steadily improved over the period from 2019 through late 2023, demonstrating a strengthening liquidity position. This trend indicates robust management of current assets and liabilities, with increasing buffers to cover short-term debts. Conversely, the sharp downturn in all three ratios during 2024 and into early 2025 suggests a significant decrease in liquid assets and/or an increase in current liabilities. This shift may warrant further investigation into changes in working capital management, cash flow generation, or increased short-term debt obligations during this recent period.

The quarterly financial data reveals significant fluctuations in current assets, current liabilities, and the current ratio over the observed period. These patterns reflect evolving liquidity and short-term financial management trends.

Current Assets

Current assets exhibit a general upward trajectory from early 2019 through early 2024, rising from approximately $10.6 billion to a peak near $27.2 billion. Notably, the increase accelerates from 2020 onward, indicating enhanced asset accumulation or improved short-term resource availability. However, from early 2024 to mid-2025, current assets decline somewhat, falling to approximately $22.2 billion by May 2025. This retrenchment suggests either asset optimization or a shift in asset composition.

Current Liabilities

Current liabilities follow a less consistent pattern. Through 2019 and 2020, liabilities decrease from roughly $8.3 billion to $6.3 billion, suggesting debt reduction or improved liability management in this period. Contrastingly, a sharp increase occurs beginning in early 2024, where current liabilities surge dramatically to over $20.3 billion, sustained at high levels through mid-2025. This sudden rise indicates substantial short-term obligations assumed or changes in liability classification.

Current Ratio

The current ratio initially trends upward from 1.27 at the start of 2019, peaking around 2.82 in early 2024, reflecting strengthened liquidity and an enhanced capacity to cover short-term obligations. This improvement aligns with increasing current assets and relatively stable or declining liabilities during much of the period. However, starting in early 2024, the current ratio declines sharply to approximately 1.00 by early 2025. This sharp drop coincides with the aforementioned surge in current liabilities and simultaneous contraction in current assets, signaling a potential decline in short-term financial stability.

Summary of Trends

Over the long term, the data points to an initial phase of liquidity enhancement and asset growth, accompanied by liability management that reduced short-term obligations. The subsequent period, particularly from early 2024, reflects a notable reversal, marked by increased current liabilities and decreased liquidity ratios, possibly indicating strategic financing shifts, operational changes, or response to market conditions. The fluctuations in the current ratio emphasize the importance of monitoring working capital and liquidity risk.

Total Quick Assets

The total quick assets exhibited a generally upward trend from early 2019 through early 2024, increasing from $8,770 million in February 2019 to a peak of $17,343 million in October 2023. This growth indicates an increase in liquid assets readily available for meeting short-term obligations over this period. However, starting from late 2023 into mid-2025, there is a noticeable decline, with values decreasing to approximately $15,035 million by May 2025, suggesting a decrease in immediately liquid assets in the most recent periods.

Current Liabilities

Current liabilities fluctuated significantly during the timeframe. Initially, from early 2019 to late 2023, current liabilities remained relatively stable, ranging generally between $6,300 million and $7,500 million. In May 2024, there is a sudden and substantial jump to above $20,000 million, maintaining elevated values through May 2025. This sharp increase implies a significant accumulation of short-term obligations.

Quick Ratio

The quick ratio, which measures the ability to meet short-term liabilities with liquid assets, showed a strong upward trend from 1.05 in early 2019 to a high of 2.34 in October 2023, reflecting improved short-term liquidity. This increase coincides with the rise in total quick assets and stable current liabilities during the same periods. However, after October 2023, the quick ratio drops sharply below 1, reaching as low as 0.68 in February 2025 before slightly recovering to 0.73 by May 2025. This decline corresponds with the substantial increase in current liabilities and decreased total quick assets, signaling decreased liquidity and potential short-term solvency concerns in recent quarters.

Summary of Trends

From 2019 through late 2023, liquidity indicators suggest improving financial strength with rising quick assets and manageable liabilities resulting in strong quick ratios above 1.5, frequently exceeding 2.0 in recent pre-2024 periods. This pattern indicates a solid buffer to cover immediate liabilities. Beginning in 2024, financial metrics reveal a marked shift characterized by a steep increase in current liabilities combined with a reduction in quick assets, exerting considerable downward pressure on the quick ratio. The ratio falling below 1 is a signal of diminished capacity to cover short-term obligations using highly liquid assets, pointing to potential liquidity risk or changes in working capital management. Overall, the data indicate a transition from robust short-term financial health toward a period of stress or strategic realignment beginning in early 2024.

The financial data exhibits notable fluctuations across the observed periods for total cash assets, current liabilities, and the cash ratio, indicating changing liquidity and short-term financial management dynamics.

Total Cash Assets

Total cash assets generally increased from early 2019 through early 2021, rising from approximately 5.1 billion USD to over 12 billion USD by the beginning of 2022. After peaking around the start of 2023 at roughly 12.6 billion USD, the cash assets experienced some volatility but stayed within a range near 9.3 to 14.1 billion USD over subsequent periods.

Current Liabilities

Current liabilities showed a declining trend from mid-2019 through late 2020, dropping from roughly 8.3 billion USD to around 6.3 billion USD. From early 2021 onwards, there was a notable rise, with liabilities increasing substantially by mid-2024 to peaks exceeding 20 billion USD before slightly declining again near the end of the data period.

Cash Ratio

The cash ratio improved significantly from under 1.0 in early 2019 to a peak close to 1.94 by the end of 2021, reflecting an increasing buffer of cash relative to current liabilities. However, from early 2024 onward, this ratio decreased sharply to values below 0.6, indicating a substantial reduction in liquidity relative to short-term obligations.

Overall, the trends suggest a period of strengthening liquidity until late 2021, supported by rising cash assets and declining current liabilities. Subsequently, the company experienced a marked increase in current liabilities and a decline in the cash ratio, pointing to a tightening liquidity position despite relatively stable cash assets. This shift may warrant attention regarding short-term financial flexibility and risk management.