Apple's (AAPL) CEO Cook Addressed Some Key Concerns in WSJ Interview, Barclays Says
February 7, 2014 1:20 PM EST
Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes said Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook addressed a few key concerns
not addressed on last week's Q1 conference call in last night's Wall Street Journal interview.
The first concern was about being aggressive on its buyback with share at the $500 level. Cook addressed
this by disclosing they bough back $14 billion worth of stock since its earnings report. At an average price of
$505/share, $14 billion would yield roughly 28 million shares, the analyst notes. They estimate the impact to
EPS is a little over 2%.
The other concern centers around if Apple is still a growth company and why. Cook discussed Apple's
growth prospects and said he continues to believe that the company is a growth company, given
opportunities to expand its current product set and enter new categories as well.
"While we would have liked to hear more assertive answers on the call last week, we are pleased with
Cook's interview and believe it addresses key investor concerns," Reitzes said. "To that end, we are
looking forward for upcoming product announcements into new categories and see the potential for Apple
to move into wearables, payments, interactive TV, and a convertible tablet. Given the next few quarters
could be quite unexciting, we hope the pace of buybacks remains elevated in C1H14."
The firm maintained an Overweight rating and price target of $570 on Apple.
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