Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Beijing time on April 18 morning news, according to reports, in Apple's upcoming quarterly report, there is a number extremely important, but has nothing to do with iPhone and Mac computer, that is, how much money the technology giant plans to invest to buy back its own shares.

Apple's capital-recovery program has become a big draw for investors amid slowing revenue growth and uncertainty about the economic outlook, and guessing the size of the buyback has become a game on Wall Street.

Over the next year, some analysts expect the company to spend $90 billion buying back shares, the same amount as last year. Apple traditionally announces its share buyback program when it reports its fiscal second quarter results, and this year's results are scheduled for May 4 EDT.

Gene Munster, co-founder and managing partner of Deepwater Asset Management, believes that stock buybacks show "confidence in the business" for investors. "If something unexpected happens, it damages their safe haven status," he said. "

Investors like buybacks because they reduce the size of outstanding shares, boost earnings per share and ultimately boost share prices. For Apple, a return on capital strategy and steady cash flow helped propel its stock outperform the broader market. The stock is up 27% since 2023 and is on track to outperform tech giants such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon for the second year in a row.

Aggregate data show that Apple's share buybacks totaled $573 billion over the past 10 years, maintaining the highest record for a U.S. listed company. In addition, the company's buybacks have been relatively stable despite volatility in the stock market and changes in the business cycle.

"Apple isn't timing buybacks, so I don't think they're going to slow them down intentionally when the stock is going up," said Ali Ragih, senior analyst at VerityData, a research firm that tracks insider activity and stock buybacks. "

Apple's largest buyback program was authorized in 2018 and amounted to $100 billion. The return plans for the past two years have been $90 billion each, and Lagia believes they will remain the same this year.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Anurag Rana said that while analysts expect the iPhone maker's revenue and earnings per share could fall 2 percent this year, it's also unlikely to derail Apple's buyback strategy.

Apple's cash and marketable securities balance at the end of last quarter was about $165 billion, some way off its goal of zero net cash (cash less outstanding debt) in the future.

Bloomberg estimates that Apple's share buybacks and dividends will total $1 trillion between 2012 and 2025 to achieve this goal.

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