Chart of the Week
By Colin Twiggs
February 14, 2020 4:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 p.m. AEDT)
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Apple Inc (AAPL) enjoyed stellar growth over the past 12 months, jumping more than 50%.
But is that due to solid operating performance or window-dressing, with almost $140 billion of stock buybacks in the last two years?
Free cash flow — operating cash flow less stock compensation and investment in plant and equipment — has been falling since 2015.
And the company has depleted its cash reserves over the last two years, to fund stock buybacks. The graph below depicts the change in Apple's net cash position (cash plus marketable securities less debt).
So why the management enthusiasm for stock buybacks?
Read more at The Patient Investor.
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~ Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (1532)
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