“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.