Optimism For Mac
Shares of moved higher Monday on increased optimism that the tech giant could announce a record-breaking boost to its stock buyback and dividend plan when it posts quarterly results this week. Apple shares rose nearly 2 percent while the broader market declined. The company had tumbled into territory in recent weeks on worries over weak iPhone sales. It reports earnings after the bell Tuesday. The capital return plan is a part of the company's redistribution of repatriated overseas profits. This year's GOP tax overhaul took the rate on repatriated cash from 35 percent tax rate to 15.5 percent. Apple in January it expects to pay about $38 billion in taxes on what it plans to bring back to the U.S., implying that it will repatriate virtually all of its $250 billion in overseas profits.
Multiple Wall Street firms have made bullish calls for the capital return program in recent weeks. Morgan Stanley analysts expect Apple, which has the biggest overseas bank account of any S&P 500 company, to increase the capital return program by $150 billion. 'This would imply Apple repurchases $210bn in shares and pays $52bn in dividends over the next three years,' Morgan Stanley equity analyst Katy Huberty wrote in a note to clients in April. Huberty said this would still leave about $30 billion on the table for acquisitions. 'We expect a meaningful uptick in Apple's capital return program on May 1st,' she said. British newspaper reported that the increase could be as much as $400 billion, citing 'several analysts.'
Citi Research earlier in April that Apple will use tax reform proceeds to increase its stock buyback and dividend program by as much as $100 billion. 'Looking ahead, we expect investor focus to be on the impact from Apple's capital returns strategy, which we estimate could be a $100 billion increase, the 2H18 lineup, and continued strength in Apple's Services segment,' analyst Jim Suva wrote in a note to clients. Longbow Research was also optimistic for the capital return expansion.
The firm in April that Apple could double its dividend and have its payout level still be in line with its large technology competitors. 'We see Apple substantially increasing its capital return program given the incremental cash provided from U.S. Tax reform and Apple's pledge to reduce its net cash position to zero over time,' analyst Shawn Harrison wrote in a note to clients. 'Apple should double its dividend to align its payout ratio to that of large-cap tech peers.' Daniel Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights, said in January that large U.S.
Tech companies will repatriate $300 billion to $400 billion in 2018, with Apple making up $200 billion of that amount. 'We believe accelerated buybacks, another dividend hike, and potentially larger M&A will be the trifecta of benefits shareholders could expect to see in 2018' for Apple, Ives in a note to clients. WATCH: Incredible collection of vintage Apple prototypes.
It's around the same, perhaps slightly higher because I'm more certain of his abilities, specifically wrt QB development. However, the hill to climb is steeper than it was for Muschamp as far as the situation he has inherited on our end. I think he has inherited a situation more conducive to immediate success than what McElwain was given, except for Georgia now being formidable. I'm confident in his ability to turn the program around, but my barometer for success has become warped over the past 7 years.
I still believed in late 2010 that Saban would either have a short shelf life at Bama or would have ups and downs the same way Urban did. Saban has changed my Outlook though. I'm not saying that everyone should lay down and not try, or that we should just accept failure, but until Saban retires, I think our realistic best case scenario looks more like what Auburn has accomplished over the past few years.
Now with Kirby building what he is at Georgia, that feeling is compounded even further. Basically, I'd like to get back to what we had in the 90's and mid 00's, but I don't think Mullen is the guy who will have us in the top 5 literally every year. I'm also okay with that. I can accept baby steps for a few seasons.
Sometimes we'll break through to a playoff berth like 2013 Auburn playing for the natty. Other times we'll stumble over difficult October's and November's like Auburn did this year. Other times we'll have rebuilding years when a bunch of seniors leave and we finish with 7-9 wins. TLDR: My expectation that we will return to a top 10 program is higher than it was with the other two coaches, but my expectation of being a national powerhouse again is tempered by how the CFB landscape has changed over the past decade. I had high hopes for Muschamp. He was the HC in waiting at Texas, and we snagged what looked like a rising star. The biggest question mark was the lack of HC experience.
He did pretty well in recruiting as far as getting top flight talent, but his classes became more and more unbalanced. Ultimately, he squandered so much offensive talent and meddled with the offense when he should've been completely hands off. He could've hired just about anybody and gave them the keys, but nope. His defenses were great, but took a step down after Dan Quinn left.
Optimism App For Mac
How a person who is supposed to be a defensive guru gets beat by a FCS team that didn't complete a single pass boggles the mind. I was so ready for his ass to be gone at this point. I also had high hopes for Mac. Sure he had limited HC experience, but he looked like he was turning CSU around, and had been a good playcaller for Bama. Maybe we got another up and comer who wasn't in the mold of an Urban Meyer, but had a different path.
However, some of his decision making, and a normally positive trait - loyalty - hurt his on field production. For all the talk about improving the offense, we still looked like dogshit except for the short lived Grier games. Looking back, even some of the Grier games weren't great, but Grier was a first time starter so he would've improved. In hindsight, Grier is a pure gunslinger, and just letting the reins go would've given us a very potent offense. However, Mac took too long to bring in ace recruiters and brought in (and worse, kept around) Nuss and Nord who might have been some of the worst coaches as far as recruiting and on-field production I've seen in a while. Again, I have high hopes for Mullen. Maybe it is because I don't view the hirings through a purely analytical lens, but with a lot of optimism and hope I have for the Gators.
But stepping back, I'm glad to see he can hold his own on the recruiting trail (although I can't blame him for the stars literally aligning in Athens right now), and think he can get a top 5 class next year. He's gonna need a QB, but I think he knows the championship expectations, which is probably the biggest hurdle at this point.
Definition For Macrocosm
She said something along the lines of there was more pressure to win in gainesville than in Starkville and she would avoid places like the grocery store after a loss incase would recognize her. I can't remember if she said she had gotten rude comments after a loss once or if she was just worried that she would because of our overreactive fan base. I never took the comment as being anti Gainesville but rather pro Starkville (I.e. Starkville is nice because while there's always pressure to win everywhere you go the expectations were a lot lower in Starkville).
With Muschamp I didn’t like that he was never a HC and frankly would have preferred Charlie Strong given he had a similar resume and “deserved” it being at UF so long. Never liked he was a UGA alum. His hiring Charlie Weiss was very troubling for me too, as his tenure at ND was laughable. However I feel like Muschsmp is actually a very good coach and I predict will win the SEC at USC within 5 years. Mac - I liked that he was offense and felt like his turnaround at CSU was promising. However, his first presser I was taken aback at his “casualness” pretty neat, etc.
There was article in the WSJ about how he used the stars to inspire him to draw up plays, which I was nervous about as well and by this point hoping he was “dumb sounding” but actually a secret genius, kind of in the vein of Bobby Bowden or something. Anyway I was wrong. Now, Im definitely more optimistic that we have “our guy”. Still I’d say I’m more grounded as UGA, Bama have built their Death Star programs and we’re holding out hope for Luke “Dan the Man” Skywalker to save the day. I’ve also just tried to be more realistic about expectations as hoping for glory and coming 4-7 makes for a very sad life. Man we need to beat FSU.
I was pumped for Muschamp. The dude has some intense energy and it was awesome. I thought having a high scoring offense was just a given and it would take care of itself; hiring a defensive mind was the perfect move. I was over it by Vanderbilt in Year 3. I immediately hated the McElwain hire because I felt we deserved a high class name to right the Muschamp disaster.
I was really liking him and was 100% sold going into first season. I blamed everything on Grier well into the second season. I was fully, and I mean FULLY, expecting to make the CFP in Year 3, right up until Marcel and the credit cards. I maintained a little faith in Mac until Feliepe and the offense as a whole let me down time after time. Had lost most of my hope for the foreseeable future. Mullen was hired and I was 50/50. I was still let down from not getting Chip, but the more I thought about it the more it grew on me.
Now, I love the hire and think it was definitely the best move. I have to keep myself in check often.
Thinking of the returning veterans & talented youth with the new work ethic & next tier playcalling, plus our cake schedule next year, it's hard to keep myself from anticipating a CFP appearance again.