| | Lift off for Apple. Up $2.07!
Here's an interesting article:
Ahead of the Bell: Apple Edges Up
Monday April 23, 9:17 am ET
Apple Shares Up in Premarket Following Report CEO Is Unlikely to Be Indicted
NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Apple Inc. edged higher in the premarket trading session Monday after the San Jose Mercury News reported that it does not appear that Chief Executive Steve Jobs will be indicted in the federal probe of stock-option backdating at the Cupertino, Calif., company.
Apple shares gained 68 cents to $91.65 in active premarket electronic trading, from their close Friday at $90.97 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The Mercury News report said it examined a large stock-options grant to Jobs from 2001 that is the focus of the federal investigation. The review "shows there is scant evidence, if any, to support criminal charges against the Silicon Valley icon," the newspaper reported.
"Despite Apple's disclosure that Jobs approved widespread backdating at Apple, there is no evidence he directed the backdating of his own grant or covered it up afterward, based on a review of regulatory filings and interviews with lawyers intimately familiar with the grant who asked not to be identified," the story said. "Without such proof, federal prosecutors cannot show the type of egregious misconduct they've targeted in the blossoming options scandal."
The Mercury News said its review found that the backdating "emerged from a good-faith, although clumsy, attempt by Apple's board of directors to reward its star chief executive for resurrecting a moribund company."
While the SEC could still punish or fine Jobs, the paper cited a lawyer who said the agency has not notified Jobs of plans to bring civil charges against him.
Lehman Brothers analyst Harry Blount, in a client note responding to the story, said that the real risk of the investigation was the removal of Jobs as CEO, and the weight of the probe on Apple shares appears "likely to lift."
"We continue to believe the stock will breakout to new highs as the launch of the iPhone nears," Blount wrote.
Blount has an "Overweight" rating on Apple shares and a $105 price target. |
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