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JPMorgan: cyberattack stole contact info for 76 million households
Is it just that time of year, or are data breaches just becoming more and more common? No matter: following the report that JPMorgan Chase and a handful of other banks had been hit by hackers comes confirmation from the main financial institution itself. The banking juggernaut says that as many as 76 million households and 7 million small businesses had names, phone numbers, street addresses and email addresses stolen in a cyberattack, according to a regulatory filing spotted by Bloomberg. The nation's largest bank noted that despite these intrusions, however, sensitive information like Social Security and account numbers, login credentials and dates-of-birth were not pilfered. If you have accounts at Chase, now might be time to reset your passwords and contact your local branch, regardless. [Image credit: Getty Images]
Banca is the most beautiful currency converter for iOS
Banca is a currency converter available universally for iPhone and iPad. It supports a virtually endless list of currencies and converts amounts on the fly. It's also highly customizable with various theme and font options, plus the ability to add or remove currencies so you always have the ones you use most often handy. Banca is US$1.99 and requires iOS 7.1 or later. Banca is dead simple to use. It's divided into two columns. On your left is the currency you're using and on the right, separated by a single arrow, is the currency you want to convert to. Longer lists of currencies accompany both. Just scroll through these to change the conversion live. Typing on the keypad converts the currency in real time as well, even for currencies in the lists when you aren't even using them. By default, Banca enables the following currencies on both sides of the equation: USD, GBP, EUR, CHF, CAD, AUD, JPY, SGD and HKD. Tapping the Currencies button at the top right brings up this list and allows for rearranging, removing and adding new ones. The app supports every single currency in the world that isn't obsolete, so if you want to add more to your list, you certainly won't have a problem finding what you need. The search bar might help too for finding currency names or countries. The entire process is slick. Slick describes two aspects of Banca: its conversion function and its design, too. Simply put, this is the most beautiful currency converter available for iPhone or iPad. It's super intuitive to use and the UI successfully embodies everything iOS stands for. More than a few tweaks are available for adjustment in the settings too, from typography to color scheme, all of which also update in real time as you make changes. If one thing is clear, it's that Banca caters toward people who care about design. The developers put great effort into making this the best currency conversion app they could possibly develop and that's apparent from the moment you tap the icon on your device's home screen. With iOS 8 came app bundles and Banca is part of one. For $4.99, you get both Banca and Unitica which is a unit converter that carries a similar design. Separately, the two add up to $5.98 with Unitica being the more expensive app at $3.99. One downside to Banca is unfortunately price, especially when you consider the bundle. For around five bucks, chances are you could have found a single app that does both unit and currency conversions for less money or even free. Convert, from the makers of Camera+, is one example that comes to mind and sells for only $1.99. To truly appreciate Banca, you have to be willing to pay for top-notch quality and design. It's a terrific app and I really can't find anything to penalize it for, but despite Banca in all of its glory, it's a tad to justify the price given the less expensive competition. If money is no object, there's no question that Banca is the App Store's go-to currency converter.
Mint on iPhone can now use your fingerprint to keep banking info safe
You're going to see a lot of apps taking advantage of iOS 8's expanded Touch ID support in the near future, but one of the bigger improvements is already here. Mint has updated its iOS app to let you use your fingerprint to sign in rather than rely on a passcode. While it's a simple step, it means that you can quickly check all your finances on an iPhone 5s, 6 or 6 Plus without compromising security -- you can thwart data thieves with a tough-to-crack code that you'll rarely have to enter yourself. There's no doubt that this safeguard will spread to other financial titles in short order, but it's good to see that an app many use daily is already locked down tight.
Coin makes up for its delayed smart card launch with an expanded beta test
Not happy that Coin said it was only shipping a beta version of its Bluetooth credit card this fall, rather than the finished product it originally promised for the summer? You're not alone -- and the company is aware that it needs to make amends for angering early adopters. The fledgling payment firm has apologized for both the delay and lack of transparency by significantly expanding the reach of its beta program. It's planning to run a nationwide test for beta backers at "no cost," and it will expand the initial number of slots in that dry run from 10,000 to 15,000 -- not a perfect solution, but definitely more accommodating. It's also hoping to increase the number of slots over time, so you may not have to wait for the finished product if you miss out on the first wave.
Fudget uncomplicates money management
Fudget, currently free in the App Store and available for both the iPhone and the iPad running iOS 7.0 or later, is built for simplicity. This isn't an app that's loaded with features. It's streamlined and focused on taking the complications out of managing your money. To be blunt, I thought I would hate this app. I need visuals like charts and graphs showing me how and where I'm spending my money –- or I thought I needed them. After only a few minutes of playing around with Fudget, I started to question how much value there is in those charts. To me, Fudget's less-is-more approach is a Zen-like take on managing your money. You start off by creating an individual "fudget" (budget). There's no limit as to how many fudgets you can make or what you use them for. Creating monthly or weekly fudgets is the obvious choice, and daily budgets can help you tighten your wallet even further. There are no pre-populated expenses or expense categories. Everything is entirely up to you. If you have more important things to spend your money on than paying your bills, no problem. Swipe to the left to delete or star an entry. Starred entries will recur on all subsequent fudgets. This is important if you're tracking monthly budgets. Where Fudget really shines is that it lets you get creative with how you track your money. Make the most of the app by budgeting for specific tasks. Manage your money for a vacation or business trip. Allocate a fudget for business lunches or dinners. Keep track of back to school expenses or Christmas shopping. If you are like me and you're really into Halloween, it's probably a good idea to create a fudget for that too. I may have given away my top secret Halloween costume, but at least you can see that, despite its limited features, the uses for this app are endless. It's a bit weird to say that Fudget takes the stress out of managing your money, but that's exactly what it does. It doesn't yell at you when you spend too much money on movie tickets and it doesn't monitor your spending patterns in fancy charts and graphs. It's not that those charts don't have their place, but if you already know how to be responsible with your money on a general basis, you probably don't need them. However, if you do require a more robust budget app, try something like Pocket Expense. In a sea of complicated personal finance apps, Fudget's no-fuss approach to money management is a welcome change.
Coin's Bluetooth credit card stand-in will reach 10,000 beta testers this fall
If you're one of the adventurous early adopters who pre-ordered Coin, you now finally have the chance to try it out. To recap: This Bluetooth-enabled piece of plastic acts as a stand-in for up to eight different cards, so that you only have to carry one when you're out and about. Until now, Coin has been available to beta testers, but only 1,000 of them -- a far cry from the multitudes who already placed pre-orders. (The startup sold 20,000 units alone in the first five hours its fundraising campaign was open.) Now, in an effort to fully QA the product before it hits stores, the company will expand its beta program to 10,000 people over the coming months. That means you could finally get your hands on one -- if you're willing to settle for non-final hardware.
Intuit releases Quicken 2015 for Mac, with stock tracking
Loyal users of Quicken for Mac, Intuit's flagship personal finance manager, have not had the easiest road over the past few years. The product froze in amber with the Quicken 2007 release, which remained on its legacy PowerPC code base well past the best-if-used-by date; while Quicken Essentials, released in 2010 with input from the Mint.com team, delivered a shiny new money management experience, it also lacked many Q2007 features (integrated bill payments, investment management) that users counted on. Many unsuspecting Quickenians upgraded their Intel Macs from 10.6 Snow Leopard to 10.7 Lion without fully realizing that Apple's move to drop Rosetta support from the Mac's OS meant that Quicken 2007 would never launch again. To Intuit's credit, the wailing and gnashing of teeth of customers was heard and acknowledged; in March 2012 it released a Lion-compatible version of Quicken 2007 which remains on sale today. Still, the anxiety around Quicken for Mac created opportunity for competing apps to haul in some market share, including the capable iBank (now at v5, including bill pay and other marquee Quicken features plus QIF data import). Intuit is now aiming to turn those Mac personal finance users back into Quicken loyalists with the shiny, mobile-savvy release of Quicken 2015 for Mac. Never mind that 2015 is still months away; the US$74.99 rebuilt flagship app delivers some key functionality, including synchronized iOS and Android mobile apps that allow you to take receipt photos on the go; detailed investment tracking that can support tax reporting requirements; and a revived, Mint-y fresh user interface that makes it easy to see where your money is going. Quicken 2015 is built atop the Quicken Essentials codebase (rather than the PowerPC legacy of Quicken 2007), but it's decidedly its own, more capable product that was guided by customer input and lots of public beta testing. These new features are great, and Intuit says that additional features will be delivered as free upgrades to the base 2015 edition. Unfortunately, it isn't committing to which features will be added -- and there's a pretty long list to choose from, including a few crowd favorites (integrated bill payment, calendar/12-month view, loan amortization) that are in Quicken 2007 and/or Quicken for Windows, but still aren't part of Quicken 2015. Intuit has posted a comparison chart where users may vote for the features they would like to see sooner rather than later -- vote early and often. Personal financial management is a conservative corner of the software market, and adopters of a particular application are often resistant to change for change's sake (it's only your life savings, after all). Users who depend on a specific tool in Quicken 2007 that isn't yet implemented in Quicken 2015 will likely have the same reaction they did to Quicken Essentials -- a more or less polite "No thank you." But for those who don't need those particular pieces (or are willing to wait) and who haven't jumped to an alternative, it's certainly a cheerful bit of news that Intuit has renewed its commitment to the Mac market with Quicken 2015. You can buy Quicken 2015 online today as a download from Intuit, via the Mac App Store or via Amazon software delivery. Boxed availability at retail is scheduled for October 2014. There is no trial version of the $74.99 application, but there is a 60-day money back guarantee if you find that the new app does not suit your requirements.
Simple rebuilds backend from scratch, releases new apps
Over the past several months my favorite online bank, Simple, has been working feverishly to update their back end. Today it released an updated app that compliments the under-the-hood changes made to its systems. Simple, if you don't know, is a banking services company that was founded with mobile in mind. Unlike many banking services that throw an app together for a large bank, knowing customers have few choices otherwise, Simple took the approach that good design and excellent features are important to many customers. After using the service for well over a year, I must agree. Users will immediately notice a design refresh, making Simple more in tune with iOS 7 and beyond. There's been a significant upgrade to Goals, where you can set financial goals. Simple makes it astonishingly easy to manage and track goals, and I'd say it is one of the best tools for this if your needs and goals are relatively straightforward. Other changes as per Simple's release notes: • We've totally redesigned and rebuilt Simple from the ground up, adding new features and improving functionality based on your feedback. • Send money to other Simple customers instantly and for free with Simple Instant. • Goals is all new. It's now easier to see your savings progress. Add memos to Goals to better organize your savings. Shortcuts make moving money between Goals even faster! • Get quick access to your most common contacts with Favorites. • Personalize your Simple experience by uploading your own avatar Simple isn't a bank, but it was acquired by BBVA earlier this year. I've been assured this will only make the company stronger, and it continues to operate essentially as it did before, but now with a multinational bank backing it. I've always been impressed with Simple's customer service, and even in light of a lot of bugs that popped up for users in the previous weeks (the CEO has apologized for these), I'd say Simple is a safe bet for handling your money and making your life, well, more simple. The app is free, but you'll need to ask for an account as they ramp up their customer base.
Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley explains why Apple's stock price is poised to explode
With shares of Apple just on the verge of breaching the $100/share mark -- and setting an all-time high in the process -- Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty this week put out a research note detailing a number of reasons why the time is ripe to invest in Apple. Though shares of Apple have been on a rampage as of late, Huberty still believes there's much room for growth ahead. The report was obtained by Fortune and some of the highlights are as follows: For starters, Huberty writes that institutional ownership of Apple shares is much lower than it was back in 2012. The subtext here is that there is plenty of room for large hedge funds and the like to shore up significant positions in Apple. Specifically, Huberty points out that institutional ownership of Apple shares currently stands at just 2.3%. This is in stark contrast to the scenario in 2012 when institutional ownership of Apple was at its zenith at 4.5% Huberty also references Apple's capital return program which, to date, has already returned $74.5 billion to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and dividends. Indeed, one could make a strong case that Apple's capital return program played an instrumental role in reviving stagnating shares of Apple. Not only do stock buybacks help pump up the company's quarterly EPS, but issuing dividends also opened up the stock to investment firms and funds who are exclusively beholden to stocks that issue dividends. Huberty also brings up Apple's R&D expenditures as a reason why the company's future looks bright. In fact, just last month we highlighted that Apple spent a record amount on R&D during the company's June quarter. Year over year, R&D expenditures increased by 36%. Commenting on this at the time, analyst Walter Piecyk observed that the last time Apple's R&D as a percentage of net sales was as high as it is today was before the original iPhone launched. $AAPL R&D was over 4% of revenue. It hasn't been that high since 2006, before the first iPhone launched. - Walter Piecyk (@WaltBTIG) July 22, 2014 Make sure to head on over to Fortune for a full recap of Huberty's report. There's not anything terribly surprising in there but she does provide a nice summary highlighting the myriad of reasons why Apple, going into 2015, is poised for big things. And speaking of high expectations, Huberty isn't the only one anticipating big things for Apple. Recall that Apple executive Eddy Cue during this year's Code Conference said that Apple's 2014 product pipeline is the best he's seen in his 25 years at Apple. Those are some unusually telling words coming from an Apple executive, and all the more tantalizing given that Cue was around for the launch of the iPhone. As a final point, Fortune points out that Morgan Stanley from March through June of this year added 2 million shares of Apple to their holdings, bringing their entire investment in Apple to $3.8 billion.
Without buybacks or dividends, Apple would have $210 billion in the bank
Apple's capital return program, originally announced back in March of 2012, has already returned vast amounts of money to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks Since its first incarnation, Apple has dramatically increased the scope of its stock buyback program, announcing in April of 2013 that it was expanding from an initial level of $10 billion to $60 billion. One year later, Apple increased its stock buyback program yet again, this time to $90 billion. This was also accompanied by steadying increases to Apple's quarterly dividend. All told, Apple's current capital return program aims to return $130 billion in value to shareholders. During Apple's most recent earnings report, Apple CFO Luca Maestri noted that the company has thus far taken action on "over $74 billion of our $130 billion capital return program with six quarters remaining to its completion." So with about a year and a half to go until the $130 billion figure is reached, Horace Dediu of Asymco earlier this week provided us with an up-to-date snapshot as to the state of the program. Breaking down Apple's $74 billion figure, Dediu notes that Apple thus far has doled out approximately $21.5 billion in dividend payments while spending approximately $53 billion on stock buybacks. That's an insane amount of cash and Dediu alerts us to the fact that Apple's cash position would be out of this world had they chosen to keep it all for itself. "What would have happened if Apple had not paid any dividends, bought back shares and taken on debt?" The answer is in the blue line. It would be about $210 billion today. There are about a dozen companies other than Apple worth more than that amount. On a related note, Apple's capital return program has had a discernible impact on the company's share price. Bloomberg reported not too long ago: The iPhone maker is up 25 percent since it spent $18 billion on its own shares between January and March and rallied 32 percent after a $16 billion buyback in 2013. Those are the highest four-month returns among the 20 biggest quarterly repurchases by any company since 1998, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Standard & Poor's. As it stands now, Apple shares are on the cusp of an all-time closing high, having just barely topped $100 a share earlier today.
Apple's stock buybacks spurred massive share price increase
With Apple making more money than it knows what to do with, the company in March of 2012 announced a capital return program consisting of stock buybacks and dividends. The initial program was designed to return $45 billion in value to shareholders, but as the money continued to roll in, Apple earlier this year upped the program to $130 billion. During Apple's most recent earnings report, Apple CFO Luca Maestri noted: "We have now taken action on over $74 billion of our $130 billion capital return program with six quarters remaining to its completion." With the majority of Apple's $130 billion capital return program centering on stock buybacks, Apple's share price has been on quite a roll as of late. And according to a recent report in Bloomberg, Apple's stock buybacks and its subsequent impact on the company's share price is unrivaled. The iPhone maker is up 25 percent since it spent $18 billion on its own shares between January and March and rallied 32 percent after a $16 billion buyback in 2013. Those are the highest four-month returns among the 20 biggest quarterly repurchases by any company since 1998, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Standard & Poor's. While many factors go into a company's share price, sweeping stock buybacks certainly help to the extent that they significantly reduce the number of free floating shares and thus help pump up quarterly earnings per share (EPS). Highlighting the massive scale of Apple's capital return program, Apple during the March 2014 quarter alone spent more money on stock buybacks than Google generated in revenue during the same period. On a related note, last year we detailed how the extremely low interest rates Apple took advantage of to finance its capital return program helps the company save money in the long run. In short, the interest Apple owes, over time, turns out to be less than the dividends it would otherwise be on the hook for.
Apple's iPhone business is as big as McDonald's and Coke combined
It's no secret that the bulk of Apple's revenue comes from the iPhone. During the company's most recent quarter, for example, 53% of its $37.4 billion in quarterly revenue came from its iconic smartphone. For as much as people like to talk about Apple having peaked, the company has a penchant for printing out boatloads of money quarter after quarter. While companies like Amazon can generate nearly $20 billion in quarterly revenue and still lose money, Apple's margins and overall profits remain extremely healthy. Critics have long demanded Apple lower prices to increase market share, but Apple has stayed the course, realizing that market share for the sake of market share alone is a fool's errand. Although the iPhone doesn't account for the majority of smartphone sales total, it can generate cold hard cash like nothing else. Providing some further context as to just how important and profitable the iPhone is to Apple, Jordan Weissmann of Slate put together this handy chart which compares how the iPhone, as its own business, compares to a number of blue chip companies. Revenue wise, we see that Apple's iPhone business makes as much money as McDonalds and Coca-Cola combined. All the more impressive is that Apple's margins over the last 10 years have remained relatively and incredibly steady. Very stable long-term gross margins. Painful contrast to rest of the industry. pic.twitter.com/XMNu7sM9xI - Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) July 22, 2014
What the analysts expect from Apple's upcoming earnings report
After the bell tomorrow, all eyes will be on Apple and its fiscal third quarter earnings report. The last time Apple reported earnings, it impressed Wall Street with iPhone sales figures and revenue that came in much higher than folks were anticipating. Will Apple once again be able to blow Wall Street sales estimates out of the water? We'll find out soon enough, but until then, here's what industry analysts are anticipating Apple will announce tomorrow after the close of trading. First things first, here's what Apple reported in its 2013 Q3 earnings report: Revenue of $35.3 billion Profit of $6.9 billion 31.2 million iPhones sold 14.6 million iPads sold 3.8 million Macs sold EPS of $7.47 And now, for analyst expectations. As the main driver of Apple's revenue, the big figure to keep an eye out for will be iPhone sales. Ahead of Apple's earnings, Philip Elmer-DeWitt surveyed a number of analysts and found that the consensus for iPhone sales is approximately 35.8 million units, a respectable increase from what Apple reported last year. Of course, the estimate from analyst to analyst varies wildly, with some anticipating sales as low as 31.8 million and others anticipating sales in the 42 million range. With respect to the iPad, the consensus is about 14.43 million units. As for Apple's Mac business, analysts are anticipating sales of approximately 3.9 million units. In short, analysts by and large think Apple's iPad and Mac business will remain relatively stagnant, likely making the company's iPhone sales the metric that will most significantly affect Apple's share price. As for actual profits, analysts are expecting Apple to deliver earnings of $1.23 per share (note that this figure is split-adjusted following Apple's 7-1 stock split). Make sure to hop on over to TUAW tomorrow afternoon where we'll have a liveblog of Apple's earnings conference call.
One-time tax holiday for Apple's overseas cash gains traction in D.C.
Apple today has over $150 billion worth of cash in the bank. Only problem is, the vast majority of that cash (~$138 billion) is held in overseas accounts. For some time now, Apple has been reluctant to bring that cash back to the United States because it would be subject to a 35 percent corporate income tax -- the highest rate anywhere in the world. Indeed, Apple's reluctance to brings its cash back stateside is why the company decided to issue debt to fund its ever-increasing capital return program. For quite some time, Apple and a number of other blue chip companies with vast cash holdings overseas have made it known that they'd love some sort of one-time tax holiday that would allow them to bring their cash over without taking a 35 percent hit. Now comes word via Reuters that the idea may be gaining traction in the halls of Washington. Top Senate Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday said they were considering offering American companies a one-time tax break if they repatriate profits stashed abroad. The senators anticipate the proposal would generate a windfall in revenue that would be used to fund federal transportation projects. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters in the Capitol that Republicans had discussed a corporate tax repatriation "holiday" idea and "it enjoys a good deal of support in our conference." Back in May of last year, Tim Cook touched on the topic of a tax holiday during an interview with the Washington Post. "If you look at it today, to repatriate cash to the US, you need to pay 35 percent of that cash," Cook said. "And that is a very high number. We are not proposing that it be zero. I know many of our peers believe that. But I don't view that. But I think it has to be reasonable" Supporters of the tax holiday argue that enabling companies like Apple to repatriate billions of dollars in foreign cash at a significantly reduced tax rate would provide a much needed influx in federal funds. In particular, supporters articulate that the resulting revenue could help replenish the quickly depleting Highway Trust Fund. While no legislation has yet been put into motion, it has to be encouraging to Apple that the powers-that-be are talking. The last time Congress allowed a tax holiday was in 2004 when companies were able to bring back their foreign cash at a paltry 5.25 percent tax rate.
Report: China pushing banks to abandon American hardware
There's a growing undercurrent of tension between the US and China because both countries think the other is trying to hack them. They're both probably right, but China seems to be taking some concrete fiscal steps to make its displeasure known. According to a new report from Bloomberg (and the usual spate of unnamed sources), the Chinese government is quietly asking the country's big banks to give up their IBM servers in favor of some homegrown hardware.
Charting Apple's growing stockpile of cash
With about US$151 billion in the bank, Apple has more money than it knows what to do with. All the more impressive is that two-thirds of Apple's cash hoard was generated during the past four years alone. The above chart maps out Apple's cash on hand on a year-by-year basis. From October 2011 to October 2012, Apple's bank account grew from $81.57 billion to $121.251 billion, an astonishing increase of $39.68 billion in just one year's time. The big product releases in that time frame included the iPhone 4S and the third generation iPad, which was the first iPad with a Retina Display. It's no secret that the iPhone, quarter after quarter, accounts for the bulk of Apple's revenue. The following statistic, though, underscores how Apple's foray into the smartphone market accelerated its cash holdings. From 2001 to 2005, during the iPod's "golden years" if you will, Apple's bank account increased by a moderately impressive 26%. But in 2007, the year the iPhone first hit store shelves, Apple's bank account increased by a whopping 52%. The 2010 release of the iPad, meanwhile, really set things into overdrive. To appreciate how significant Apple's cash hoard is, check out this chart comparing Apple's financial position to that of a few countries. As a final point, it's worth noting that the vast majority of Apple's money is stashed away overseas. Apple has been reluctant to bring it back to the U.S. because it doesn't want it taxed at corporate income tax rates.
All of the US government's spending will soon be available on one website
US government spending data can be a pain to track down; while much of it is publicly accessible, it's scattered across many agencies that have their own ways of presenting information. Soon, though, you won't have hunt for it at all. The recently signed DATA (Digital Accountability and Transparency) Act will publish all of that financial material on USASpending.gov in an easily readable, software-independent format. The law also calls for both more detailed budget data and a simplified set of reporting requirements.
Report: Apple reaches #2 online retail spot after Amazon
This morning, Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Fortune.com writes that Apple has attained the number two spot in online retail. According to sales data, Apple has now passed Staples and Walmart. This achievement is partly due to an accounting change that now includes hardware sales along with iTunes and App Store revenue. Part of Apple's 24% increase last year (to $18.3 billion) is due to an accounting change: For the first time, Apple threw online hardware sales into the mix alongside iTunes and App Store sales. Amazon's retail offerings, of course, are considerably broader than Apple's. But as Asymco's Horace Dediu pointed out in a chart posted on Twitter last week, Apple has the edge in terms of online accounts. Those could come in handy if Apple, as rumored, is working on a new, iOS-based mobile payment service. Even setting aside the new accounting change, the rise in Apple's revenues started several years ago, beginning its noticeable acceleration in 2010. You can see the respective retailer stories in the above chart sourced from the Wall Street Journal. Sales results image courtesy of the Wall Street Journal
Apple last quarter spent more money on stock buybacks than Google generated in revenue
Since March of 2012, Apple has nearly tripled its capital return program. What started out as a US$45 billion effort to return value to shareholders has now skyrocketed to a $130 billion program. In conjunction with Apple's increased capital return program, the company recently made available the above chart which maps out a timeline of its dividend payouts and stock buybacks. The chart is worth highlighting because it really illustrates the magnitude of just how much money Apple is spending. As the chart indicates, Apple in the last two years or so has spent $46 billion on stock buybacks and $18.4 billion on dividend payouts. Over and above that, Apple in recent months has gotten even more aggressive about stock buybacks and and increasing its dividend amount. During the most recent quarter, for example, Apple spent $18 billion on stock buybacks. To put this figure into context, Google during the same time period generated $15.4 billion in revenue. In other words, Apple spent more money on stock buybacks last quarter than Google even generated in revenue. And yes, Apple may be issuing debt to fund the operation, but it's not as if it's doing so because it doesn't have the cash on hand. On the contrary, Apple today has $151 billion in the bank. The only hiccup is that the bulk of that cash is overseas, meaning that if Apple repatriated that amount back to the U.S, it'd be subject to a high corporate income tax rate. So from Apple's perspective, it's more economical for them to issue debt with an extremely low interest rate than it is for them to bring over their cash hoard abroad. Also worth mentioning is that Apple is one of the largest dividend payers on the planet. Since reinstating dividends back in March of 2012, Apple has cumulatively doled out $23.44 per share to shareholders. By way of contrast, Microsoft -- which is no stranger to having huge stockpiles of cash -- has paid out $1.96 per share in dividends during the same time period.
Apple announces 7-1 stock split, dividend increase, and expanded captial return program
Apple today released its earnings results from its second fiscal quarter of 2014, posting revenue of $45.6 billion and EPS of 11.62 in the process. Overall, iPhone sales came in stronger than expected while iPad sales came in weaker than expected. Alongside its earnings report, Apple today also announced a 7-1 stock split for shareholders who own Apple shares as of the close of business on June 2, 2014. Shares that reflect Apple's new split-adjusted stock price will begin trading on June 9, 2014. Over and above that, Apple today also announced an increase to its quarterly dividend by 8% to $3.29 per share. Naturally, Apple also expressed plans to expand he scope of its capital return program to over $130 billion, with the majority of those funds set to be used for repurchasing shares. To assist in funding the program, the Company expects to access the public debt markets during 2014, both domestically and internationally, for an amount of term debt similar to what the Company raised during 2013. The management team and the Board of Directors will continue to review each element of the capital return program regularly. "We are announcing a significant increase to our capital return program," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We're confident in Apple's future and see tremendous value in Apple's stock, so we're continuing to allocate the majority of our program to share repurchases. We're also happy to be increasing our dividend for the second time in less than two years." For any curious Apple investors out there, Apple just put up a stock split FAQ up on its website. In after-hours trading, shares of Apple are now up nearly $40.
