“Apple stock climbed with a purpose on Wednesday, after the company reported results on Tuesday afternoon. Across the board, the results beat almost all Wall Street expectations, including whisper numbers for both earnings and iPhone sales,” Parke Shall writes for Seeking Alpha. “At a time where the market seemed undecided as to whether or not Apple would move through all time highs or treat them as a resistance level, this earnings report should give the stock the push it needed for Apple to move onto all time highs.”
“It looks as though Apple CEO Tim Cook is trying to engineer a way to repatriate a lot of the company’s cash. We have predicted in several past articles that upon repatriation, shareholders stand to benefit significantly,” Shall writes. “In the past, when Apple wanted to conduct a buyback or raise its dividend, the company took on debt to help them put together the cash necessary for such shareholder friendly initiatives. Dating back years, Apple shareholders have suggested that the company deploy more capital to increase shareholder value. After all, Apple is a robust cash generating machine that, after this quarter, now has over $240 billion in cash.”
“It is not as though the company couldn’t take on more debt to conduct further buybacks and shareholder friendly initiatives, but there is a real case for the company feeling much more comfortable performing the shareholder friendly initiatives while holding the cash here in the United States,” Shall writes. “We think that the eventual repatriation of this cash this year could even lead to a special dividend or ‘bonus check’ for Apple shareholders. If it is not a cash distribution, Apple shareholders are likely to receive the benefits through stock buybacks or other means.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A bonus check for shareholders? Oh, okay, if you insist! If Apple’s going to do dividends, the world’s most valuable company should lead the way there, too.
If–and when–Apple’s money horde returns to US soil, federal and state regulations will require that a goodly portion of it be put to use . . . repurchasing its stock, increasing its dividends, investing in other business ventures, and the like. It will NOT be allowed to just SIT idle in a California bank of under a mattress somewhere. Tim and the board do not own that money: AAPL stockholders do.
There are many opinions out there for Apple to spend their money but few really understand the details. If you look into what Apple puts its money into right now, you would find out that the money doesn’t sit idle. Your selfish greed of getting it for yourself is not in Apple’s interest and frankly, would be wasted on someone like you who would blow it like some trailer trash lottery winner. Try to do some research before you post such drivel.
Bonus checks for stockholders would be nice. It should be based on how long the stock has been owned by the investor. Much bigger check for long term holders. Someone who buys the stock today shouldn’t be compensated as much as for someone that has been loyal to Apple for a long time.
Amen to that (stockholder since 2000).
Since 2004 for me. However, I’m not looking for a huge one-time bonus. $5 to $10 per share would suit me fine. I’d rather Apple put more money toward developing or acquiring some new business which would take away Apple’s heavy dependency upon the iPhone. Wall Street has this annoying perception that Apple can’t do anything without the iPhone. That needs to be changed and would probably boost Apple’s valuation in terms of growth. A cloud business or search business (DuckDuckGo) would be a nice addition. I don’t want Apple to take on any more hardware products.
I don’t see that happening. Reference Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend. It was originally set up on a sliding scale based on length of residency. Some lawyer and his wife named Zobel from California, while living in Alaska, sued and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. Now all it takes is to live in Alaska for a year.
I’d prefer they held on to the $246B in the event opportunity arises to make acquisitions.
how about in case they take the opportunity to make up to date and even cutting edge desktop macs – and advertise them – instead
I’d like to see updated desktops as much as anyone else, but bringing the subject up in every single discussion is just annoying.
not nearly as annoying as them not doing anything about it – this is not an new gripe – as you allude to – from me or many others – but as they say, the squeaky wheel gets greased.
assuming mr. apple get the wax out of his ears
my free diagnosis and prescription
the good doctor
As I’d prefer the government to charge you an extra 40% in taxes just to take more money out of your wallet.
Apple will have plenty of dough left over for aquisitions.
No, raise the dividend to .75 a share and leave it at that.
That sounds good, too. No need in Apple giving all of that money away in one shot. That money will be better used to improve Apple’s overall business.
Tim Cook has said they intend to raise the dividend every year. Recently it has been going up five cents a year (quarterly). In four years it will get to 77 cents. In ten years, if we are all still here, the quarterly dividend will be over one dollar.
A one time dividend would be nice.
There is no mechanism to give a larger dividend to those who have held the stock longer.
The taxes are lower if you have held the stock for more than one year or so.
I don’t like it when people start talking about “cash on hand” and how to spend it. Besides, under these circumstances Apple would have a lot less than $264B in cash and marketable securities. First, deduct around $33B to repatriate the foreign-held assets at a 15% tax rate. Second, factor in Apple’s long term debt of ~$75B. Now the cash and securities is down to around $156B. That is the number that really means something to me.
That is a very meaningful number.
Who said it was cash, it’s a free pack of emojis, that Johnny personally spent weeks on.
“Orange Peel Investments”? Seeking Alpha. Uhhh huhhhh. As a shareholder enjoying dividends I’m not sure I’d put much stock in either of the aforementioned sources. The topic of increased dividends (or even the “special check”) has been discussed by more reputable sources but if either event occurs I’ll happily accept.