Analysts to Apple: Bend your knee to Wall Street
said, is that Apple hasn't adjusted to this reality and worked to find new constituencies among investors. Those who invest in fast-growing companies or chase rising stocks have abandoned the company. Apple doesn't do enough to attract other investor types: value investors who seek out the stocks of undervalued companies with steady, predictable profits, and income investors who look for stocks with generous dividends and low risk.
Analyst Brian White at Topeka Capital Markets said the lack of interest from value-oriented investors means Apple lacks a safety net when there's disappointing news, like Wednesday's earnings report. When other companies' stocks fall, value investors tend to swoop in, putting a floor under the stock and dampening volatility.
“No one wants to pay anything for (Apple) because you can't get the value investor to back it up,'' White said.
Apple sits on a cash pile of $137 billion, which currently earns about 1 percent annual interest. It's a hoard that frustrates many company-watchers, and analysts are virtually unanimous in their opinion that Apple should be putting it to better use.
Apple has taken steps in the right direction, as far as Wall Street is concerned. Last year, it instituted a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share, a generous sum compared with most technology companies. But it's paltry when measured against companies with similar cash reserves. It has also started using cash to buy back shares _ another way to reward investors.
But analysts say the company should be doing more. Jeffrey calculates that Apple will generate about
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