<html><head></head><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div><br><br>Sent from my iPhone. M Cuniberti</div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> <a href="mailto:Ultrabella@aol.com">Ultrabella@aol.com</a><br><b>Date:</b> March 19, 2012 8:46:50 AM PDT<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:bayareaprocess@earthlink.net">bayareaprocess@earthlink.net</a>, <a href="mailto:bayareaprocess@att.net">bayareaprocess@att.net</a>, <a href="mailto:moneymanagement@bayareacs.org">moneymanagement@bayareacs.org</a><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>New Dividend Stock Opportunity</b><br><br></div></blockquote><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
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<h1 class="title-news"><font color="#000000"><font size="4">Apple Announces Plans For
$100 Billion Cash Hoard</font> </font></h1>
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<p><font color="#000000"><b>The Huffington Post</b> | By </font><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bianca-bosker" rel="author"><font color="#000000">Bianca Bosker</font></a><font color="#000000"> <span class="follow-author-mini"><a style="DISPLAY: inline" class="twitter-anywhere-user twitter-tooltip" href="http://twitter.com/bbosker" jquery1620945596166866429="6" author_nickname="hp_blogger_Bianca Bosker"></a><a style="DISPLAY: inline" class="fb-tooltip" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/apple-announces-plans-for-cash_n_1362212.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-sb-bb%7Cdl8%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D144526#" jquery1620945596166866429="5"></a></span></font><span style="DISPLAY: block" class="posted-and-updated"><font color="#000000">Posted: 03/19/2012 8:42 am Updated:
03/19/2012 9:53 am </font></span></p></div>
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<div id="chicklets" class="chicklets lighter"><font color="#000000">Apple </font><a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/03/19Apple-Announces-Plans-to-Initiate-Dividend-and-Share-Repurchase-Program.html" target="_hplink"><font color="#000000">announced Monday</font></a><font color="#000000"> that it plans to spend nearly half of its $100 billion cash hoard
to pay a dividend to investors and buy back shares of the
company.</font></div></div></div></div>
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<p><font color="#000000">The company's quarterly dividend, its first since 1995,
will be $2.65 per share and begin "sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal
2012, which begins on July 1, 2012," </font><a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/03/19Apple-Announces-Plans-to-Initiate-Dividend-and-Share-Repurchase-Program.html" target="_hplink"><font color="#000000">according to Apple's press
release</font></a><font color="#000000">. Apple has also allocated $10 billion to
spend on repurchasing shares of the company, which will begin later this fall.
</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">"We will continue to invest in the business and will
maintain our disciplined, focused approach in the future," Apple CEO Tim Cook
said during a conference call Monday morning. "Innovation is the most important
objective at Apple, and we will not lose sight of that. These decisions will not
affect that." </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">The dividend and share repurchase program will together
cost Apple $45 billion that will be spent over the next three years.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">That money will be pulled from Apple's U.S. cash
holdings, though over $60 billion of its cash balance is being held overseas.
During a conference call with analysts addressing Apple's plans for its cash
balance, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer criticized U.S. tax law, noting that
repatriating the cash would, due to United States corporate lax law, come at a
huge cost to the company.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">"Repatriating cash from overseas would result in
significant tax consequences under U.S. law," Oppenheimer said. "We have
expressed our views to Congress and the administration. We think current tax
laws provide significant disincentive to U.S. companies that would otherwise
repatriate the significant cash they have on hand."</font></p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/03/19/live-blog-apple-announces-cash-plans/" target="_hplink"><font color="#000000">The <em>Wall Street Journal</em> points out
that, according to Bernstein Research</font></a><font color="#000000">, Apple's
international tax rate is less than 3 percent, while repatriating its cash would
send Apple's international tax rate soaring to between 13 and 25
percent.</font></p>
<div id="ad_mid_article" class="ad_wrapper">
<form id="qas_dfp_frm" method="get" name="qas_dfp_frm" action="" target=""><font color="#000000">Oppenheimer outlined Apple's four objectives for the dividend and
stock buyback program: to maintain enough cash to invest in new business
opportunities; to provide income to Apple shareholders; to open up Apple stock
to a wider investor base (some mutual funds steer clear of stocks that offer no
dividends); and to neutralize the offset dilution from equity grants to Apple
employees.</font></form></div>
<p><font color="#000000">"The repurchase program is expected to be executed over
three years, with the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution
from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs,"
</font><a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/03/19Apple-Announces-Plans-to-Initiate-Dividend-and-Share-Repurchase-Program.html" target="_hplink"><font color="#000000">Apple stated in its press
release.</font></a></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Few analysts </font><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/cfo/2012/01/25/apple-feels-pressure-to-use-cash/" target="_hplink"><font color="#000000">anticipated Apple would use its cash for
large acquisitions</font></a><font color="#000000">. </font><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070301_402290.htm" target="_hplink"><font color="#000000">As Bloomberg Businessweek's Arik Hesseldahl
observed</font></a><font color="#000000">, "When Apple makes acquisitions, they
tend to be focused on small companies that can be integrated into projects that
are already developing internally."</font></p>
<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/apple-announces-plans-for-cash_n_1362212.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-sb-bb%7Cdl8%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D144526"><font color="#000000">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/apple-announces-plans-for-cash_n_1362212.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-sb-bb%7Cdl8%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D144526</font></a></p></div></div></div></font></div></blockquote></body></html>