Tangible Assets
Physical, touchable assets with a definite monetary value, such as property, equipment, inventory, and cash.
What is Tangible Assets?
Tangible assets are physical items owned by a company that can be touched, seen, and assigned a market value. They include current tangible assets — cash, inventory, accounts receivable — and long-term tangible assets such as property, plant, and equipment (PP&E). Unlike intangible assets, tangible assets can generally be sold, pledged as collateral, or liquidated, making them important measures of financial security. Long-lived tangible assets are depreciated over their useful life on the income statement. Tangible book value, which excludes goodwill and other intangibles from equity, is a conservative measure of what shareholders would receive if the company were liquidated today.
Example
Caterpillar's balance sheet is dominated by tangible assets: manufacturing facilities, construction equipment used for testing and demonstration, and raw material inventory. These physical assets underpin the company's ability to secure financing and represent real economic value even in a distressed scenario.
Source: Investopedia — Tangible Asset