Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook is facing a new reality: delivering steady results from one of the world's most valuable companies is no longer good enough.
For nearly 18 months, Mr. Cook has kept a stream of new products rolling, produced a string of robust quarterly results and introduced a dividend and stock buyback expected to cost $45 billion over three years.
But an attack from one of Apple's prominent investors underscores how that approach may not be enough anymore, especially amid intensifying industry competition and the company's slowing growth.
On Thursday, hedge fund manager David Einhorn sued Apple in a New York federal court in an effort to block an Apple shareholder proposal that he argues could limit how the company could return some of its $137 billion cash pile to investors. Apple is proposing to require a shareholder vote before it can issue preferred stock, a kind of security that Mr. Einhorn is urging the company to adopt. Apple's board already has the right to issue such shares, but said in a filing it doesn't intend to do so.
The proposal comes to a vote at Apple's annual shareholder meeting on Feb. 27.
Mr. Einhorn, whose firm Greenlight Capital Inc. and its affiliates own about $610 million worth of Apple stock, argues that Apple should distribute a "perpetual preferred" stock that could pay a dividend yield of 4%. The shares would return cash to shareholders by paying a bigger yield than Apple's regular shares, which currently carry a 2.3% dividend yield, according to FactSet.
The preferred stock dividends would only require Apple to pay out small amounts over time, rather than tapping its cash reserves to spend a large sum at once in the form of a special dividend or stock buyback.
More- Heard on the Street: Peeling Cash Off Apple
"It's a unique solution to a problem that's been intractable�how does Apple reward its shareholders?" Mr. Einhorn said in an interview. "This idea allows them to keep their cash and yet enables shareholders to recognize value."
Apple later fired back in a statement Thursday, asserting that passage of the proposed shareholder measure wouldn't prevent Apple from issuing preferred stock in the future. Apple said it would evaluate Greenlight's proposal to issue the security and that its management team and board have been in "active" discussions about returning more cash to shareholders.
Apple's statement didn't address the merits of Greenlight's lawsuit, which argues that Apple is violating a securities rule by bundling three items�including the preferred stock matter�under one proposal.
The fracas encapsulates the growing investor unease about Apple as the company stands at a growth crossroads.
When Mr. Cook took over as CEO in 2011, investors widely believed he would be more receptive to distributing some of its cash, something that his predecessor, Steve Jobs, had fiercely resisted. In March 2012, Mr. Cook announced Apple's first dividend since 1995 and a stock buyback, and made a dividend payout last August.
But that hasn't appeased many shareholders as Apple's historical growth streak has tempered amid signs that the company is losing its competitive edge in smartphones to Samsung Electronics Co.
Concerns are also rising over an apparent lack of new game-changing products�like the iPad and the iPhone when they first debuted�which have previously driven Apple's growth. Mr. Cook has said the company continues to innovate at a rapid pace.
Last month, Apple reported a flat profit for its most recently ended quarter and executives predicted that revenue growth would continue to slow.
All of that has boiled over into a stock decline and increasing pleas by investors to put more cash to use.
Since closing at a record high of $702.10 in September, Apple's shares have dropped 33%. The stock rose Thursday after Apple's statement, finishing the day up 3% at $468.22.
No comments :
Post a Comment