Apple about to announce dividend program?
Not that I know more than anyone else, but I don't feel Apple really paying a dividend out. They've never really seemed too beholden to shareholders in the past (well, the Steve Jobs past anyway), and I think they'd rather invest the cash in something that would benefit the business more. It's not as if the share price is in a bad place, after all!
They will likely generate another $50B in cash this calendar year. Even if they want to maintain the $100B war chest, they could pay out ~$50/share/year. I think a share repurchase or dividend (whatever they think will return more value to the shareholders) is highly likely.
It's reasonable to at least project the same growth for future quarters, year on year, as Apple got in their Q1 (which includes christmas, iPhone 4S launch, death of Steve Jobs, ...).
This year should have a rev of most of the Mac line (hopefully Pro if they don't kill it, too, although it doesn't move the needle on revenue), iPad 3 selling an absurd number of units, and an iPhone 5. The big innovation I've seen with Apple in the past couple product cycles is keeping their older iOS products on sale at a reduced price point, so now you get to choose iPad 2 or iPhone 3GS/4 on price vs. any competitor (and still better), or iPad 3/iPhone 4S as absurdly better at about price parity. Makes more sense than trying to create low end and high end products simultaneously.
I just don't know why a dividend would be more than a press release after markets closed.
I've read that they offer few benefits, but I've never heard this explanation. I also don't see how it makes sense for a company in their position?
If Apple had $5b in cash and decided to buy back stock, that would be a bit bearish -- they certainly can continue to make incremental cash investments (in supplier agreements, new products, etc.). $100b (which is actually probably $110-120b now, a month later) is way beyond that. Getting $50b returned to shareholders wouldn't be a sign of lack of investment options for Apple.
My understanding is that ably $66 billion is offshore. I really expected them to sit on the cash until the US government gave them some sort of tax amnesty
(where investor = someone looking to finance innovation and long-term value/wealth creation; and speculator = someone looking to get rich quick on market volatility, pump & dump, etc.)