Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, August 16, 2013

Article Excerpt

APPLE INC., $502.33, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, rose 9% this week after activist investor Carl Icahn announced that he had purchased an undisclosed stake in the company. Icahn, who has a long history of pushing companies to make changes that increase shareholder value, wants Apple to buy back more of its shares. Under its current plan, the company expects to spend $60 billion on share repurchases by the end of 2015. That’s equal to 13% of its $456.3-billion market cap. If Apple agrees to buy back more shares, it will probably borrow the cash it needs to do so. That’s because it holds most of its cash and investments of $146.6 billion, or $161.40 a share, in offshore accounts, and bringing them back to the U.S. would trigger a large tax bill. Apple’s long-term debt is just $17.0 billion, so it has plenty of room to borrow more funds. In addition, Apple will probably launch a new version of its popular iPhone smartphone…