Special dividend
Chart of the day: Apple shares spike suddenly on high volume
March 11, 2013: 4:29 PM ETNo hard news, just rumors of a large buyback or special dividend
Click to enlarge.
FORTUNE -- After trading down all day -- and all year, for that matter -- Apple (AAPL) began moving higher at 2:26 p.m. Monday and didn't stop until it hit resistance at $438. The stock closed at $437.87, up $6.15 (1.42%) for the day.
Wall Street watchers were left scratching their heads.
- "What's up with AAPL?" was the headline on Barrons.
- "Apple Spikes on ... What Exactly?" quoth the Wall Street Journal
- "Apple Suddenly Popped And No One Knows Why" was the first take at Business Insider, followed within the hour by...
- "Noooooo, Apple! Don't Do A Special Dividend! Buy Back $50 Billion Of Stock!," with Henry Blodget's take on the rumors he's heard
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Why is Apple headed down again? Here's one theory
The third selling wave since Sept. 21 could be the bursting of a special dividend bubble
FORTUNE -- For Apple (AAPL) investors wondering why the company has been, as Economic Timing's Jason Schwarz puts it, "in sell-off mode for over two months, even in the midst of its greatest quarter of sales in history," Schwarz offers an explanation.
He believes the current wave of selling is linked to the co-called special dividends MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 5, 2012 10:45 AM ET -
Apple's cash plan: 3 options (updated)
Most likely scenario: ongoing dividend. Less likely: special dividend or stock buyback
UPDATE: Apple chose options Nos. 1 and 3:
A 2.65% quarterly dividend, starting in fiscal Q4, which ends in September. Expect this to cost more than $10 billion in the first year alone.
A $10 billion stock repurchase plan starting in fiscal Q1 2013 spread out over the next three years, primarily to offset share dilution due to incentive stock grants.Total MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 19, 2012 6:16 AM ET
