So what? iCahn has zero influence in the day to day operations of Apple and obviously has nothing to do with any of their product plans. He just wants Apple to buy back more stock, that's a good thing. I think that the more stock that Apple buys back means a lesser likelihood
of us seeing a repeat of what happened when AAPL took a big tumble.
When companies are on a long-term upward arc (like Apple), stock buybacks can be a great long-term move. When (like IBM) they're on a long-term downward trajectory, they're more often like feeding your remaining hay to the dead livestock littering your decaying fields....
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon
Don't worry, I've already seen reports of how this is a bad thing. Analysts say this is evidence Apple has no idea what to invest in for future innovations.
I've got two ideas unaddressed since at least Tiger and likely going back to 10.0 that they could spend a tiny bit of the monies involved on:
1. Add the choice of saving Grab's screenshots as JPG's so they can be posted to places TIFF's can't be (and it's not like they're super-hi-res files for archiving/advanced editing)
Taking care of this neglected, leftover annoyance (which forces me to round-trip most of my grabs via Photoshop) would take one person a day or less I'd wager..... ....and even Windows doesn't make you do that dance....
2. Add the "Klingon" symbols for the option, control and shift keys to the keyboards so we can easily match them up to the menu short cuts that refer to 'em. I still forget after all these years sometimes. And the lack of a cue as to which is which has to be perplexing to newbies.
[Edit: I'd forgotten the control, option, shift and shift lock symbols are on the keyboard viewer as a reference of sorts - again not where a newbie's gonna know to go... ...and what would it take to put the Apple specific symbols into the character viewer...?? Every other kind of damn thing's in there....]
Plus the ability to intuitively be able to type them (along with the Command "cloverleaf" and Apple symbols would also be a simple "gift" to users....
So what? iCahn has zero influence in the day to day operations of Apple and obviously has nothing to do with any of their product plans. He just wants Apple to buy back more stock, that's a good thing. I think that the more stock that Apple buys back means a lesser likelihood
of us seeing a repeat of what happened when AAPL took a big tumble.
It is a good thing if you are a short term investor. I have held Apple stock since it was $14 dollars a share, and I think it is a bad thing. Apple doesn't get any benefit from the buy back. Give the money to me as a dividend.
His profits in Apple so far probably offset that loss though. I'm sure he has enough billions to last until he dies in a few years so it doesn't really matter.
Apple has another $22b in buybacks to do this year so that can help boost it a little but it's hardly going to make a dent on a $650b market cap. Apple will easily make another $80b from the iPhone 6 and 6S so that can go on a buyback and they'd still have over $100b in assets but with a record market cap already, the dividend route would probably be more worthwhile.
Don't worry, I've already seen reports of how this is a bad thing. Analysts say this is evidence Apple has no idea what to invest in for future innovations.
So the more Apple buys back, the greater Icahn's influence over the company becomes as you can be sure he won't have sold any of the shares Apple bought.
So what? iCahn has zero influence in the day to day operations of Apple and obviously has nothing to do with any of their product plans. He just wants Apple to buy back more stock, that's a good thing. I think that the more stock that Apple buys back means a lesser likelihood
of us seeing a repeat of what happened when AAPL took a big tumble.
Don't worry, I've already seen reports of how this is a bad thing. Analysts say this is evidence Apple has no idea what to invest in for future innovations.
Well, you know Apple ONLY has about $160 billion in overseas cash and that may run out very quickly. After all, these analysts are experts when it comes to companies with $650 billion market caps and more cash than most companies are worth. /s
It's funny, though. I could have sworn a few years back even the analysts said Apple should use some of its cash to do buybacks but now it seems the situation has changed. However, Apple bought Beats Music and it didn't seem the analysts were very happy with that acquisition, either. It wasn't supposed to be a good fit or Apple paid too much money for their liking. Analysts are rather hard to please and feel they know far more about running a company than Apple's own management team.
I really can't imagine what type of innovation these people are looking for. A time machine, perhaps. Most tech companies never make great leaps that disrupt everything but Apple is expected to do it every few years. It happens when it happens. There simply isn't that wide a gap in technology among tech companies. Mostly all the top companies are privy to the same components. At least Apple is designing its own processors and OS, so I don't know why analysts are being so bitchy about some amazing technical breakthrough not happening fast enough at Apple. I believe that high-quality products are more than enough for most consumers. I'd hardly consider the iPhone 6/6 Plus a marvel of new tech but consumers like them all the same. That's company success by nearly any standard.
Don't worry, I've already seen reports of how this is a bad thing. Analysts say this is evidence Apple has no idea what to invest in for future innovations.
You are right. They could buy Tesla or some other big company. Not sure how that would help, too much, although it would help in a way: Apple could spend billions on battery technology.
They could also lower prices and take smaller margins. Sell more product so they could have better share of market outside of "rich" countries, like the US and Japan. Then, they would have less cash and wouldn't have too much trouble with the extra cash laying around.
Well, it seems that the trend these days is stock buybacks by a lot of companies.
Apple's dilemma is getting too big. A company can only get too big and be ineffective. The company seems laser focused in hardware, but their services and software seem to suffer, maybe from the size of the company.
Comments
The WWDC jackets are nice too.
There seems to be some of those on eBay also, from various years.
So what? iCahn has zero influence in the day to day operations of Apple and obviously has nothing to do with any of their product plans. He just wants Apple to buy back more stock, that's a good thing. I think that the more stock that Apple buys back means a lesser likelihood
of us seeing a repeat of what happened when AAPL took a big tumble.
When companies are on a long-term upward arc (like Apple), stock buybacks can be a great long-term move. When (like IBM) they're on a long-term downward trajectory, they're more often like feeding your remaining hay to the dead livestock littering your decaying fields....
Quote:Don't worry, I've already seen reports of how this is a bad thing. Analysts say this is evidence Apple has no idea what to invest in for future innovations.
I've got two ideas unaddressed since at least Tiger and likely going back to 10.0 that they could spend a tiny bit of the monies involved on:
1. Add the choice of saving Grab's screenshots as JPG's so they can be posted to places TIFF's can't be (and it's not like they're super-hi-res files for archiving/advanced editing)
Taking care of this neglected, leftover annoyance (which forces me to round-trip most of my grabs via Photoshop) would take one person a day or less I'd wager..... ....and even Windows doesn't make you do that dance....
2. Add the "Klingon" symbols for the option, control and shift keys to the keyboards so we can easily match them up to the menu short cuts that refer to 'em. I still forget after all these years sometimes. And the lack of a cue as to which is which has to be perplexing to newbies.
[Edit: I'd forgotten the control, option, shift and shift lock symbols are on the keyboard viewer as a reference of sorts - again not where a newbie's gonna know to go... ...and what would it take to put the Apple specific symbols into the character viewer...?? Every other kind of damn thing's in there....]
Plus the ability to intuitively be able to type them (along with the Command "cloverleaf" and Apple symbols would also be a simple "gift" to users....
So what? iCahn has zero influence in the day to day operations of Apple and obviously has nothing to do with any of their product plans. He just wants Apple to buy back more stock, that's a good thing. I think that the more stock that Apple buys back means a lesser likelihood
of us seeing a repeat of what happened when AAPL took a big tumble.
It is a good thing if you are a short term investor. I have held Apple stock since it was $14 dollars a share, and I think it is a bad thing. Apple doesn't get any benefit from the buy back. Give the money to me as a dividend.
I think they should just keep buying back shares until I'm the only shareholder left. Then I'll own all of Apple!!! :-)
He said he's going to hold it until it's at least $203:
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/10/09/why-icahn-thinks-apple-shares-are-worth-203/
He'll need to in order to offset his losses in oil:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-drop-hits-carl-icahn-john-paulson-hard-2014-12-19
His profits in Apple so far probably offset that loss though. I'm sure he has enough billions to last until he dies in a few years so it doesn't really matter.
Apple has another $22b in buybacks to do this year so that can help boost it a little but it's hardly going to make a dent on a $650b market cap. Apple will easily make another $80b from the iPhone 6 and 6S so that can go on a buyback and they'd still have over $100b in assets but with a record market cap already, the dividend route would probably be more worthwhile.
Bump.
Apple has another $22b in buybacks to do this year ....
Apple does not 'have' to do anything. It can simply cancel or postpone the buybacks, or return money to shareholders in other ways.
They also don't "need" to return money to the shareholders. I'd argue that the buyback makes far more sense than a dividend.
Apple does not 'have' to do anything. It can simply cancel or postpone the buybacks, or return money to shareholders in other ways.
They also don't "need" to return money to the shareholders. I'd argue that the buyback makes far more sense than a dividend.
The more Apple buys back, the higher the value of the stock. At the same time; the less dividend payments Apple has to pay out to shareholders.
Double-BOOM!
Don't worry, I've already seen reports of how this is a bad thing. Analysts say this is evidence Apple has no idea what to invest in for future innovations.
They don't.
That's why they have so much money.
So the more Apple buys back, the greater Icahn's influence over the company becomes as you can be sure he won't have sold any of the shares Apple bought.
So what? iCahn has zero influence in the day to day operations of Apple and obviously has nothing to do with any of their product plans. He just wants Apple to buy back more stock, that's a good thing. I think that the more stock that Apple buys back means a lesser likelihood
of us seeing a repeat of what happened when AAPL took a big tumble.
Exactly.
It’s protection against the shorts.
or a large, one-time, special dividend -- might be a better way to return money to shareholders.
iPod Shuffle sounds nice.
Pfft.
A $10,000 iTunes gift card for every shareholder would be welcomed.
Bump.
Camel.
Apple does not 'have' to do anything. It can simply cancel or postpone the buybacks, or return money to shareholders in other ways.
They also don't "need" to return money to the shareholders. I'd argue that the buyback makes far more sense than a dividend.
The more Apple buys back, the higher the value of the stock. At the same time; the less dividend payments Apple has to pay out to shareholders.
Double-BOOM!
And the more they can raise the dividend for the rest of us!
Don't worry, I've already seen reports of how this is a bad thing. Analysts say this is evidence Apple has no idea what to invest in for future innovations.
Well, you know Apple ONLY has about $160 billion in overseas cash and that may run out very quickly. After all, these analysts are experts when it comes to companies with $650 billion market caps and more cash than most companies are worth. /s
It's funny, though. I could have sworn a few years back even the analysts said Apple should use some of its cash to do buybacks but now it seems the situation has changed. However, Apple bought Beats Music and it didn't seem the analysts were very happy with that acquisition, either. It wasn't supposed to be a good fit or Apple paid too much money for their liking. Analysts are rather hard to please and feel they know far more about running a company than Apple's own management team.
I really can't imagine what type of innovation these people are looking for. A time machine, perhaps. Most tech companies never make great leaps that disrupt everything but Apple is expected to do it every few years. It happens when it happens. There simply isn't that wide a gap in technology among tech companies. Mostly all the top companies are privy to the same components. At least Apple is designing its own processors and OS, so I don't know why analysts are being so bitchy about some amazing technical breakthrough not happening fast enough at Apple. I believe that high-quality products are more than enough for most consumers. I'd hardly consider the iPhone 6/6 Plus a marvel of new tech but consumers like them all the same. That's company success by nearly any standard.
Don't worry, I've already seen reports of how this is a bad thing. Analysts say this is evidence Apple has no idea what to invest in for future innovations.
You are right. They could buy Tesla or some other big company. Not sure how that would help, too much, although it would help in a way: Apple could spend billions on battery technology.
They could also lower prices and take smaller margins. Sell more product so they could have better share of market outside of "rich" countries, like the US and Japan. Then, they would have less cash and wouldn't have too much trouble with the extra cash laying around.
Well, it seems that the trend these days is stock buybacks by a lot of companies.
Apple's dilemma is getting too big. A company can only get too big and be ineffective. The company seems laser focused in hardware, but their services and software seem to suffer, maybe from the size of the company.
Who said they "needed" to return money to shareholders? I certainly did not.
Yes, buybacks generally make more sense than dividends, but only at the right price. And not always.