Thursday, August 19, 2010

FinancialEdge: How Should Apple Spend Its Money?

Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) has a problem - and it is a good problem to have. Products like the iPhone, iPod and MacBook, to say nothing of services like iTunes, have been so successful that Apple has accumulated more than $22 billion of cash and another $21 billion in long-term investments. With so much dry powder in the arsenal and persistent rumors about the health and legacy of CEO Steve Jobs, it seems reasonable to ask how the company might deploy this capital. Here are a few possible scenarios. 

Give it Back to Shareholders
This would be the simplest option, and there is no doubt that some shareholders would love to see a large-scale buyback or one-time dividend (or perhaps just a sustainably high regular dividend). Unfortunately, it seems like the least likely under current management. Simply giving back money and not applying it to some creative purpose seems very "un-Jobs-like," particularly when there are still mountains to climb and markets to conquer.

To read the complete column, please go to:
http://financialedge.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0810/How-Should-Apple-Spend-Its-Money.aspx

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