Apple shares rocket on dividend rumours
Having already joined the half-trillion market cap club, Apple headed higher today as the broader market fell.
Apple shares rocket on dividend rumours
Having already joined the half-trillion market cap club, Apple headed higher today as the broader market fell.
The company's shares (NAS:AAPL) rose 7.43% today as the Nasdaq declined 0.67%. [UPDATE March 2: Apple was up 0.34% in today's tradiing.]
Market scuttlebutt holds that Apple will use some of it $US98 billion cash mountain for a special dividend - reported by Bloomberg at $US2 a share - then introduce regular payments to shareholders.
Yesterday, Apple's market cap passed the $US500 billion mark, putting it in a rarefied group that includes GE, Microsoft and Cisco - who all achieved the half-trillion mark toward the end of the 1990s tech boom.
Today's rise moved Apple's market cap to $US505 billion.
For now, Microsoft, which touched $US600 billion during the tech boom, remains the all-time market cap champ.
But given Apple's market cap has risen $US100 billion in the past month alone, on the back of record profit, that target could still fall.
The lure of a dividend, and huge iPhone (37 million in the past quarter) and iPad (15 million) sales are, for now, overshadowing the loss of the late Steve Jobs, the melding force between Apple's engineers and designers.
Apple generated $US17.5 billion in free cash flow during its December quarter as pulled in record revenue of $US46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $US13.06 billion, or $US13.87 per diluted share
Exxon Mobil is currently the world's second most valuable company on a market cap of around $US410 billion.
NBR staff
Thu, 01 Mar 2012
Thu, 01 Mar 2012
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Apple shares rocket on dividend rumours
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