Google Inc. wants to keep cash on hand in order to be ready to invest quickly when needed, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, had $48.1 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of 2012. Google wants to retain its “strategic ability to pounce,” Pichette said at a Morgan Stanley conference.

Apple Inc. has been under investor scrutiny over its $137.1 billion in cash and investments, facing pressure to return more to shareholders.

“For now we feel very comfortable with our position,” Pichette said. “We don’t have religion about cash and hoarding cash. Google doesn’t have this view that it will keep all its cash for eternity."