It's hard to please Carl Icahn. Shortly after Apple (AAPL 1.09%) CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that it had purchased $14 billion worth of stock -- on the heels of a poorly received quarterly report two weeks ago that sent the shares lower -- Icahn argued that it wasn't enough.
"Keep buying, Tim," Icahn tweeted, barely giving Apple a chance to catch its breath after the massive shopping spree.
There's a point to the repurchases, of course. It inflated profitability on a per-share basis. However, Apple still has fundamental problems to tackle, and right now that means improving the results during the holiday quarter that saw iPhone and iPad sales grow by no more than 7% over the prior year's holiday period. The smartphone and tablet markets are naturally growing a lot faster than that.
$GOOG @ 19x2014 est operating profit. At same multiple $AAPL=$1,245 per share. Ridiculous. Keep buying Tim! You still have $145 billion cash
— Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) February 7, 2014
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
- Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR +0.00%) apparently has some pop left. Coca-Cola (KO +0.01%) announced that it will invest $1.25 billion in the Keurig company in exchange for a 10% stake. The deal also finds Coca-Cola offering up its brands as flavors for the forthcoming Keurig Cold system that makes carbonated beverages. This may not be a big investment on Coca-Cola's behalf, but it's certainly telling that the company is willing to undercut its bottlers by allowing consumers to make the same soft drinks at home.
- Ambarella (AMBA 5.49%) moved 5% higher on Friday, after GoPro announced plans to go public. GoPro is a maker of popular wearable cameras, and Ambarella makes the video compression chips inside the devices.
- RadioShack (RSH +0.00%) scored a big hit with its Super Bowl ad this past weekend, but all of that buzz went away on reports that the profitless consumer-electronics retailer will close roughly 500 stores. I guess it fumbled what shouldn't been an easy score.
