Report: Apple's Likely to Repatriate $200 Billion in Foreign Cash
Thanks to the new tax laws in the United States, Apple’s likely to repatriate $200 billion this year. This prediction comes from a recent GBH research note first reported by 9to5Mac.
According to the report, Apple’s planning on spending the cash in three ways.
In addition to “accelerated buybacks” and “another dividend hike,” the company could put some of that cash to work by making a big acquisition.
The burning question on the Street’s mind is does (Apple CEO Tim) Cook make a big bet with this infusion of cash and do a larger deal (e.g. Netflix) to catalyze and jump start its streaming video/content business.
The firm understands Apple usually avoids large acquititions. However, in the case, they might go big.
To this point, while it’s likely Apple keeps its M&A deals under $2 billion in size, we strongly believe it is a ripe time for Cupertino to look ahead and make a bigger bet on a new growth area such as streaming video as with the “content arms race” well underway between Netflix (spending $8 billion this year), Disney (Fox deal), Amazon, and a host of others such as HBO and Facebook aggressively spending on content, now is the right time for Apple to make an aggressive move in our opinion on this front.
GBH isn’t the only company this week to float the idea of Apple buying Netflix. On Jan. 2, Citi said the video streaming giant remains Apple’s top takeoff target in 2018.
Late last month, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a new law that gives corporations a one-time allowance to repatriate cash stored overseas without taking a major tax hit. Apple has over $250 billion in cash, most of it sitting abroad.