Apple Stock Is Officially Cheap -- Tim Cook Just Said So

Updated

After a year of sharp sell-offs, Apple stock is up nearly 5% after hours on the company's first quarterly earnings beat in four tries.

The Mac maker reported $10.09 a share in profits on $43.60 billion in revenue. Analysts were expecting $10.07 a share and $42.49 billion, respectively, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Both iPhone and iPad sales came in ahead of expectations, and that's despite increasingly tough competition from Samsung and Google , among others. Mac sales fell slightly year over year, but nowhere near as much as the 15% PC market downturn that's plaguing Dell and Hewlett-Packard , among others.


Here's a product-by-product look at Apple's fiscal Q2 versus the median projections compiled by Fortune:

Product

Actual

Median Projected

Last Year

YOY Growth

iPhones sold

37.431 million

37.00 million

35.064 million

7%

iPads sold

19.477 million

18.00 million

11.798 million

65%

Macs sold

3.952 million

4.10 million

4.017 million

(2%)

Sources: Fortune, Apple SEC filings.

More importantly, Cook announced plans to increase its repurchase program from $10 billion to as much as $60 billion worth of Apple stock over the next two years. Existing shareholders will also enjoy a 15% dividend increase, to $3.05 a share, payable on May 13.

The Mac maker will also take on some debt, though management didn't provide details.

"We are very fortunate to be in a position to more than double the size of the capital return program we announced last year," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, in a press release. "We believe so strongly that repurchasing our shares represents an attractive use of our capital that we have dedicated the vast majority of the increase in our capital return program to share repurchases."

Suddenly, it's good to own Apple again. Will you hold to take advantage of the increased dividend? Open a new position? Add to an old one? Or simply sell Apple stock to capture profits from tomorrow's rally? Please weigh in using the comments box below.

And remember: if you're Interested in ongoing guidance, The Motley Fool's senior technology analyst and managing bureau chief, Eric Bleeker, provides regular updates via ourApple research research service. To get instant access to his latest thinking on Apple, simplyclick here now.

The article Apple Stock Is Officially Cheap -- Tim Cook Just Said So originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He owned shares of Apple and Google at the time of publication. Check out Tim's web home and portfolio holdings or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Google. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. 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.

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