AP
"Apple is leaning toward additional dividends or a share buyback program as part of its effort to return more cash to investors, according to sources," reports Chon.
This means, of course, that it is not going with hedge fund manager David Einhorn's iPrefs, which were a special class of stock that paid a perpetual dividend.
She also says Apple was working on its dividend/buyback plan before Einhorn started kicking up a fuss. However, Apple might have decided to bump higher the size of its dividend thanks to Einhorn.
For what it's worth, Apple has already acknowledged that it's looking into doing something with its cash. Since it fought the iPrefs idea, the only other real options are doing a dividend or a buy back.
And since the Spring is almost here, this all makes sense.
Unfortunately, we don't have any specifics on what Apple is really going to do. We don't know the size of its plan, and we don't know if will be a buyback or a dividend or both.
For what it's worth, we think a buyback makes more sense ...