“Apple Inc. could purchase just about anything with its $122 billion wad of cash. In fact, the company has the ability to double its yield right now without even breaking a sweat. It holds that much in cash,” Jason Cimpl writes for ETFDailyNews.
“Apple’s cash hoard is enough buy all of the gold reportedly stockpiled in the People’s Republic of China. Moreover, they could even afford to sweeten the deal and pay $1,900 per ounce,” Cimpl writes. “At $1,900 per ounce, gold sells for $61.1 million per ton. China supposedly stores about 1,054 tons of gold, which has a value of roughly $64.3 billion. Apple could purchase all of PRC’s gold (for a 10% premium) and have $58 billion remaining.”
Cimpl writes, “It’s unlikely the company will begin to hoard gold. However, Apple’s cash balance has clearly reached an absurd level. The easiest (and wisest) way for Apple to spend its money would be to distribute it as a dividend. Though AAPL already yields a respectable 1.8%, its payout could be far grander. And I think Apple is going to increase their payout next quarter.”
Read more in the full article here.