$90 billion in buybacks expected
Tim Cook, Apple's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) reacts as a man shows him Apple's Macintosh outside the Apple store at Jio World Drive mall, Mumbai, India on April 18, 2023.
When Apple reports quarterly earnings on Thursday, the results are expected to be somewhat muted — the company already guided investors to a 5% revenue decline due largely to decreases in Mac and iPad sales.
But Apple will still remind investors of its mammoth size and market power, as the company uses its fiscal second-quarter report to tell investors how much the board has authorized it to spend on share buybacks and dividends. It's another way of telling the world how profitable its business is and how much cash it throws off every quarter.
Wall Street expects that number to come in at $90 billion, equal to last year's authorization figure, based on a compilation of analyst reports.
"We think they keep that intact," said Angelo Zino, analyst at research firm CFRA, in an interview.
Apple has been the buyback king over the past decade. From 2012 through the end of 2022, Apple spent over $572 billion on share repurchases, the most of any company, according to FactSet data. Since 2013, Apple has announced board authorization levels in its second-quarter earnings report.
Second to Apple is rival Alphabet , with $178.5 billion in share repurchases over the decade. The internet company just said its board authorized a $70 billion buyback for the year.
Source: CNBC
