Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Committed to Returning Money to Shareholders

August 8, 2016

President and CIO Jim Wright of Harvest Financial Partners says Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of his largest holdings. Though new to the dividend game, Mr. Wright believes Apple is committed to returning money to shareholders.

Apple is a company that we really like. It’s one of our largest holdings at the firm, and we still think it represents terrific value. The stock price is, right now, in the low $90s, and it has a dividend yield of about 2.5%.

[…] While they don’t have a long history of paying dividends, they have increased the dividend fairly significantly in that period of time. It’s up about 50%. We think management is very committed to returning money to its shareholders through the dividend and a large stock buyback, and we like that.

The stock is in the low $90s, and just like T. Rowe Price, it is a net cash company. Apple does have some debt, but they have a lot of cash on the balance sheet. The net cash position is nearly $30 a share. You are getting the underlying business for $70, if you tax adjust the cash. They’ll probably earn somewhere around $8 this year. So you are paying a single-digit multiple.

Jim Wright