$50 Billion Is Big, but Not Big Enough

By Daniel Sparks – Apr 26, 2013 at 6:30PM

NASDAQ: AAPL

Apple

Market Cap

$2,610B

Today's Change

(-0.32%) -$0.54

Current Price

$168.48

Price as of April 25, 2024, 11:40 a.m. ET

Will a $50 billion boost to Apple's share repurchase program shrink Apple's cash hoard? Probably not.

Apple (AAPL -0.32%) is cash rich. In fact, cash accounts for 40% of the company's share price. Though Microsoft (MSFT -4.06%) comes close, with cash accounting for about 30% of its share price, Apple looks dirt cheap compared to Intel (INTC 0.42%), Google (GOOGL -2.03%), and Amazon (AMZN -2.81%) when measured by cash per share.

Apple attempted to solve this problem with a boost to its dividend and share repurchase program. But is the world's largest share repurchase program large enough for Apple? If Apple continues to generate cash at today's levels, after its $100 billion program to return cash to shareholders through dividends and repurchases expires, the company could still have the same $144.7 billion it has today. Does this mean Apple should pay out even more cash? In the video below, Fool contributor Daniel Sparks shares his take on the matter.

Fool contributor Daniel Sparks has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Apple, Google, and Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, Google, Intel, and Microsoft. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.