George Osborne must wish he had Apple's - or even Vodafone's - problem: so much cash they can hardly know what to do with it. As the chancellor digests the news that Moody's has put the heavily indebted, but still triple A rated, UK on a downgrade threat, Apple sits on a cash pile of $97.6bn which analysts reckon could surpass $200bn by 2013. Its share price has topped the $500 mark (delivering a healthy profit for anyone who followed John Hughman's tip to buy the shares last October - we'll have more on that tomorrow). Meanwhile mobile telecoms operator Vodafone, which yesterday confirmed a possible interest in Cable & Wireless Worldwide, announced in its interims last week that it expects its free cash flow this year to be around £6.5bn, and that's not including the £2.8bn dividend received from Verizon Wireless in January. Our columnist Bearbull had already decided last month that Vodafone, "on the verge of becoming a cash-generating machine of major proportions", was a must-have for any high-yield equity portfolio including his own Income Portfolio. But where can other must-have shares be found? Algy Hall has used a growth screen to track down four shares all boasting rising earnings, rising dividends and rising share prices. Elsewhere Maike Currie offers advice on getting ready for the new Isa season, we report on results from Shire and Hargreaves Lansdown and Dominic Picarda explains his reaction to the latest market movements.
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