“Apple’s capital return program will get much larger, according to one Wall Street firm,” Tae Kim reports for CNBC. “UBS reiterated its buy rating for Apple shares, saying the recently passed tax reform bill will free up new funds for the company’s shareholder return program.”
“‘Apple clearly is a beneficiary of overseas cash repatriation,’ analyst Steven Milunovich wrote in a note to clients Monday. ‘Repatriation of ~$250bn of offshore cash should increase the rate of Apple’s share buybacks since the company believes the stock remains attractive in that its services business is undervalued,'” Kim reports. “Milunovich reaffirmed his $190 price target for Apple shares, representing 9 percent upside to Friday’s close.”
“He estimates repatriation will unleash an incremental $25 billion and Apple’s annual free cash flow will stay around $60 billion,” Kim reports. “As a result, Milunovich believes the company could buy back $122 billion worth of its shares through 2019.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yup.
Think buybacks and dividends, not major acquisitions. – MacDailyNews, January 5, 1018
Another $125 billion in buybacks would be seismic. – MacDailyNews, November 18, 2016