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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple's share price today closed above $600 for the first time, hitting new highs after hours as well. It's been a busy day for Apple shareholders, with the pre-trading announcement that the company will be initiating a strong quarterly dividend and has authorized $10 billion share buyback program.

After the final bell, Apple announced that the company moved more than 3 million new iPads in the first four days of eligibility, making the new iPad the fastest selling tablet in the world.

AAPL closed at $601.10, an all-time high, and nearly reached $605 in after hours trading. Apple should report earnings for the first calendar quarter in late-April, after reporting record earnings and sales for the holiday quarter.

Article Link: AAPL Hits New Highs After Dividend and iPad 3 Sales Numbers
 

Eatsleepdrivesc

macrumors member
Aug 30, 2010
57
0
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Go Apple! Thats a lot of new IPads!
 

theheadguy

macrumors 65816
Apr 26, 2005
1,156
1,385
california
It's funny that the people who predicted dividends were voted down so many times. It proves that "voting" is a useless feature, IMHO.
 

icemanMacBookAir

macrumors newbie
Dec 30, 2011
1
0
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I'M a MAC
 

macmastersam

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2011
515
0
Essex, england
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Well done apple! Keep up with This! Just heard about this on the news earlier!

Oh how Steve jobs would be so proud of apple if he was still here right now !
 

hobo.hopkins

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2008
568
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This is just unbelievable. The rate of growth is staggering, and there's nothing to point to that curbing anytime soon.
 

firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,106
1,343
Silicon Valley
It's funny that the people who predicted dividends were voted down so many times. It proves that "voting" is a useless feature, IMHO.

Not useless. If you understand the local bias, you can pretty much conclude the opposite from the votes on certain hot-button topics. A strong enough correlation can be useful, whether the numeric sign is positive or negative.
 

iDisk

macrumors 6502a
Jan 2, 2010
825
0
Menlo Park, CA
Still puzzles me why the dividend was needed anyway. Cook and "team" should have thought twice. The Stock will be higher come years end. Shareholders will be happy, and hopefully consumers will be as well. Again no need for the dividend.
 

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
The dividend allows AAPL to be included in a certain class of investments that require dividend payouts like income mutual funds. This will probably decrease decrease trade volatility in the long run.

Note that the dividend payout is tiny and really doesn't stop AAPL from being a growth stock.

The $40B dividend and share buyback program (over three years) is less than the cash flow projections, so Apple would end with even more cash anyhow since they are spending cash slower than they are accumulating it.

Even by purchasing real estate, developing new facilities, making strategic component purchases, acquiring companies, Apple still isn't spending as much as it makes.

They probably looked at this several times and decided that a hundred billion dollars in the piggy bank was enough for them to operate their business effectively plus provide a safety net for bad times.

As an AAPL investor, I'm fine with a few dividends, but that's not what I was hoping for when I bought these shares. I never expected AAPL to be an income stock.

It's not like Apple is giving up capital growth by providing equity income. There's still plenty of growth potential in Apple.
 
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lcm123

macrumors member
Jun 27, 2007
46
0
Still puzzles me why the dividend was needed anyway. Cook and "team" should have thought twice. The Stock will be higher come years end. Shareholders will be happy, and hopefully consumers will be as well. Again no need for the dividend.

It doesn't matter. Don't stress out too much over the dividend decision. Stock will keep going higher and Apple will continue to make $$$ year over year (iPhone 5, iTV, iCloud, Siri to all, Apple innovation DNA, etc...)
 

iDisk

macrumors 6502a
Jan 2, 2010
825
0
Menlo Park, CA
The dividend allows AAPL to be included in a certain class of investments that require dividend payouts like income mutual funds. This will probably decrease decrease trade volatility in the long run.

Note that the dividend payout is tiny and really doesn't stop AAPL from being a growth stock.

The $40B dividend and share buyback program (over three years) is less than the cash flow projections, so Apple would end with even more cash anyhow since they are spending cash slower than they are accumulating it.

Even by purchasing real estate, developing new facilities, making strategic component purchases, acquiring companies, Apple still isn't spending as much as it makes.

They probably looked at this several times and decided that a hundred billion dollars in the piggy bank was enough for them to operate their business effectively plus provide a safety net for bad times.

It doesn't matter. Don't stress out too much over the dividend decision. Stock will keep going higher anyway year over year (iPhone 5, iTV, iCloud, Siri to all, Apple innovation DNA, etc...)

Here's a quote from a poster in another forum. I agree with the point their making.

The buyback and dividends are a substantial loss of money for Apple. Losing $45 BILLION over 3 years is NOT a "toe in the water" move.

This leaves Apple only $65 BILLION left, with almost all of it being trapped outside the U.S.

This gives Apple less flexibility in aggressively buying up components to keep its monopsony that crushes its competitors.

Apple's Cash Hoard is a weapon. Steve Jobs would have kept this weapon. Steve noted that companies that give out dividends are at the end of their growth period - this includes companies like Microsoft, whose stock has been flat for the past decade.

Weakening Apple makes me unhappy. What the buyback and dividends do is make it much more difficult for Apple to become a trillion dollar company.

What the buyback and dividends do is to make Apple a much more fragile company, whose market cap depends on the psychological whims of pundits.
 

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
You still don't understand cash flow, do you?

Look, after everything they did, Apple added about $38 billion in cash to its hoard last year.

Let's say that Apple's profits remains the same over the next three years (unlikely) and they use $15 billion each year for the dividend/share buyback program. They would still be adding $23 billion each year. Today's $98B hoard would end up being over $165B in March 2015, even after the $45B program ended.

Also, Apple is likely buying components with foreign cash, not U.S. domestic cash. Remember that despite all of Apple's strategic component pre-purchases, they are still growing cash.

You need to understand that repatriating cash back to the USA is particularly expensive tax-wise.

Remember that the share buyback program is there to prevent share dilution from RSUs. In the next few years, some senior Apple executives are going to see their option incentives become available to exercise. If Apple doesn't buy back shares, they would have to issue new ones, which would dilute the value of the existing shares. Apple grants options to many employees for excellent performance, etc. (they're called the "golden handcuffs" for good reason), but those shares have to come from somewhere. Many senior management team members were granted options as an incentive for them to stay with the company, especially after Steve died. Basically, Apple promised these execs a pile of money in the future without saying where it was going to come from. Now they said "we going to use some of our cash now and set it aside for when that day comes."
 
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carmenodie

macrumors 6502a
Apr 25, 2008
775
0
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Got mine in Saturday. Amazing screen!
Now, wait until the Apple tv arrives and the new iPhone. Can anyone say $700 to $800 a share? And what if they make the 17 inch Mac book pro with a retina display?
I need to stop.
 

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
Here's a quote from a poster in another forum. I agree with the point their making.

You do realise that poster is not accounting for the cash that will be coming in during those 3 years right ? 100 billion today, minus 40 billion over 3 years, plus whatever their cash increase forecasts does not equal 65 billion.

How can you agree with such a shortsighted post ? His whole premise is flawed to begin with.

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It's funny that the people who predicted dividends were voted down so many times. It proves that "voting" is a useless feature, IMHO.

It's a popularity contest if anything. It's the "mob" opinion. If you want to be voted up, just lower your critical thinking level and simply agree with the mob.

Yes, I do also find it's a useless feature, I just ignore it and post whatever the hell I want to say. Sometimes I get negatives, sometimes I get positives. In the end, it doesn't matter one bit.
 

SteveJobsUK

macrumors newbie
Mar 19, 2012
23
0
Some estimates that Apple will generate $45 Billion in cash this fiscal year alone. So they will still grow the cash hoard significantly despite spending $45 Billion over the next few years.
 

Wild-Bill

macrumors 68030
Jan 10, 2007
2,539
617
bleep
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Oops. Wrong thread
 

the8thark

macrumors 601
Apr 18, 2011
4,628
1,735
The dividend allows AAPL to be included in a certain class of investments that require dividend payouts like income mutual funds. This will probably decrease decrease trade volatility in the long run.

You actually get it. This is probably why Apple did this. To reduce the volatility of their stock price after events and the like. And if it takes a measly dividend to do this then so be it. Apple can afford that. And the benefits to Apple far outweigh the annual cost of the dividend to Apple.

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Apple is the #1 most valuable company in the world and I'm sure that it will stay that way. The iPad 3 will help it stay that way (stocks hit over $600). But can it stay that way forever? These guys think so...

http://thechurchofapple.com/2012/02...ompany-in-the-world-but-is-that-a-good-thing/

There is no iPad 3.
There is only iPad (3rd generation).

Just had to point that out so you know the correct name of the product.
 

seashellz

macrumors 6502
Nov 18, 2004
407
0
ive seen projections of APPLE going to $700+

The psychotic Apple haters are out in force doing a sour grapes thing-But i look at Windoze fanbois as Dinosaurs-slowly dying off and APPLE as the new age of Mammals;

The mammals didnt take over in a day-but they will soon be a dominant force-now 20% and rising-Windows is the OLD school of doing business and is also antiquated technology


Oh and people should know that nearly ALL PCs,smartphones/Pads/game boxes etc are also made by FOXCONN about 90% of all electronics-wonder why Apple got to be the whipping boy? Even Android parts are subcontracted to FOXCONN and assembled there
 
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