More due within a year than is available to pay it
305 companies above $1bn in revenue have current liabilities exceeding their current assets.
The textbook reading is that the company cannot meet its near-term obligations. For a small business that is usually right. For the largest companies here it is almost exactly backwards.
Retailers and distributors are paid by customers immediately and pay suppliers in thirty to ninety days. That float is a source of funding: the company runs on its suppliers money, and the stronger its position with those suppliers, the more negative its working capital becomes. A retailer with a current ratio comfortably above one may simply have less negotiating power.
The ratio becomes meaningful again when the business cannot convert inventory to cash quickly. A manufacturer with slow-moving stock and a current ratio below one is in a genuinely different position from a supermarket with the same number.
As with most single ratios, the question is not the value but whether the business model explains it.
What this is usually called
The current ratio is current assets over current liabilities, and the stricter version that removes inventory is the quick ratio or acid-test ratio. The difference between the two sides is working capital, and when it is negative the business is described as having negative working capital or as being funded by its suppliers -- float, in the retail sense.
The question, as a query
Below is the query as a reader would type it. Edit the numbers to move the threshold and the answer changes with them.
current_ratio < 1 AND revenue > 1b| Company | Revenue | Net income | Gross margin | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMTWalmart Inc. | $713.16B | $21.89B | 24.9% | $14.92B |
| UNH InsurerUNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC | $447.57B | $12.06B | 88.7% | $16.08B |
| AAPLApple Inc. | $416.16B | $112.01B | 46.9% | $98.77B |
| MCKMCKESSON CORP | $403.43B | $4.76B | 3.6% | $5.72B |
| CVSCVS HEALTH Corp | $402.07B | $1.77B | 45.0% | $7.81B |
| CORCencora, Inc. | $321.33B | $1.55B | 3.6% | $3.21B |
| CI InsurerCigna Group | $274.90B | $5.96B | 21.8% | Unavailable |
| CAHCARDINAL HEALTH INC | $254.25B | $1.71B | 3.8% | $4.52B |
| KRKROGER CO | $147.64B | $1.02B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| VZVERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC | $138.19B | $17.17B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| TAT&T INC. | $125.65B | $21.95B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| CMCSACOMCAST CORP | $123.71B | $20.00B | Unavailable | $21.89B |
| DELLDell Technologies Inc. | $113.54B | $5.94B | 20.0% | $8.55B |
| TGTTARGET CORP | $104.78B | $3.70B | 27.9% | $2.84B |
| DISWalt Disney Co | $94.42B | $12.40B | Unavailable | $10.08B |
| PEPPEPSICO INC | $93.92B | $8.24B | 54.1% | Unavailable |
| TMUST-Mobile US, Inc. | $88.31B | $10.99B | Unavailable | $18.00B |
| PGPROCTER & GAMBLE Co | $87.03B | $16.05B | 50.2% | $15.15B |
| ACIAlbertsons Companies, Inc. | $83.17B | $217.40M | 27.2% | Unavailable |
| HCAHCA Healthcare, Inc. | $75.60B | $6.78B | Unavailable | $7.69B |
| IBMINTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP | $67.54B | $10.59B | 58.2% | $12.10B |
| ENBENBRIDGE INC | $65.19B | $7.49B | Unavailable | $3.30B |
| DALDELTA AIR LINES, INC. | $63.36B | $5.00B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| CSCOCISCO SYSTEMS, INC. | $63.32B | $13.27B | 64.5% | $12.77B |
| ABBVAbbVie Inc. | $61.16B | $4.23B | 70.2% | $17.82B |
| UALUnited Airlines Holdings, Inc. | $59.07B | $3.35B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| HPQHP INC | $55.30B | $2.53B | 20.6% | Unavailable |
| CHTRCHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC. /MO/ | $54.77B | $4.99B | Unavailable | $4.42B |
| AALAmerican Airlines Group Inc. | $54.63B | $111.00M | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| PAAPLAINS ALL AMERICAN PIPELINE LP | $44.26B | $1.44B | 8.7% | $2.29B |
| PAGPPLAINS GP HOLDINGS LP | $44.26B | $260.00M | 8.7% | $2.29B |
| CRMSalesforce, Inc. | $41.52B | $7.46B | 77.7% | $14.40B |
| PMPhilip Morris International Inc. | $40.65B | $11.35B | 67.1% | $10.66B |
| MDLZMondelez International, Inc. | $38.54B | $2.45B | 28.4% | $3.24B |
| GEVGE Vernova Inc. | $38.07B | $4.88B | 19.8% | Unavailable |
| SBUXSTARBUCKS CORP | $37.18B | $1.86B | Unavailable | $2.44B |
| JBLJABIL INC | $35.95B | $1.04B | 9.2% | $1.37B |
| LINLINDE PLC | $33.99B | $6.90B | Unavailable | $5.09B |
| OKEONEOK INC /NEW/ | $33.63B | $3.39B | 30.5% | $2.45B |
| PAGPENSKE AUTOMOTIVE GROUP, INC. | $31.81B | $935.40M | 16.4% | Unavailable |
Showing the 40 largest by revenue of 305. Open the full list in the screener.
What this does not show
Current assets include inventory, which is not equally liquid across industries. The ratio treats a warehouse of unsold goods and a bank balance as the same thing.
The measures behind this
Current ratio Current assets Current liabilities
Related findings
Citing this
SequelSEC, “More due within a year than is available to pay it”, 26 October 2026. https://sequelsec.com/findings/current-ratio-below-one
Figures are recomputed on every view from SEC filings, so a number quoted from this page should carry the date it was read.