Thursday, February 21, 2013

David Einhorn Apple Conference Call - Business Insider

AP Images

Closely-followed hedge fund manager David Einhorn, the CEO of Greenlight Capital who is taking aim at Apple over its massive $137 billion cash hoard, just wrapped up a conference call with Apple shareholders.

Greenlight has been?urging Apple investors to vote "No" on Apple's Proposal 2 in its proxy?later this month?that will eliminate the company's ability to issue preferred stock.

Einhorn is also battling the tech giant in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Essentially, Greenlight says Apple is attempting to bundle three reforms, two of which he would normally support, into one provision and Einhorn thinks that violates the SEC's proxy rules. ?The New York Times' Michael de La Merced reported?that the federal judge is leaning in Einhorn's favor after a hearing on Tuesday.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook called Einhorn's lawsuit a "silly sideshow" during the Goldman Sachs Tech Conference in San Francisco earlier this month.

Greenlight owned 1,582,006 shares in Apple (275,000 of those are call options) at the end of Q4, according to a 13F filing with the SEC.?

We've included all the highlights below.

greenlight apple

The purpose is to discuss Apple's allocation strategy and Greenlight's proposal to unlock shareholder value.

He's only taking questions about Apple.

He's giving some prepared remarks. ?He'll take questions afterwards.?

He's talking about how tech companies have a theme of cash hoarding. ?"He says companies view their self importance by the size of their bank accoutns."

He says if Wall St. can't be counted on the key to survival is "rainy day funds."

He says IBM and Texas Instruments are examples. He says they're seen as "shareholder friendly."

He says their attitude to capital allocation was so unappealing they sold the stock.

It's more like a vault, he says.

Apple can unlock value by deploying the cash productively or returning cash to shareholders, he says.

There are 4 conventional ways for distributing cash to shareholders, he explains:

* One time dividend

* One time large share repurchase. He estimates they could unlock $89 per share.

* Large on going share repurchases (he estimates Apple could buy back 6% of its shares each year). He estimates this plan can unlock $79 per share.

* Doubling the dividend?

"We have a solution for unlocking value that allows it to have its cake and eat it too."?

A.K.A. a share of perpetual preffered stock.

greenlight

greenlight

greenlight apple

He says it could get complicated.

He says iPrefs don't interfere with using the cash hoard.

He says iPrefs are a form of equity, not debt. He says there would be no balance sheet risk.

He says he was surprised to see Prop 2.

He says he looks forward to meeting with Cook and his team shortly.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/david-einhorn-apple-conference-call-2013-2

front door alyssa bustamante protandim weightless ellen degeneres jcpenney yeardley love nba all star reserves

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.