Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for Wednesday:
Apple’s Market Capitalization Tops $500 Billion: Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) market value rose above $500 billion as shares climbed 1.3% to $542.44 at 9:30 a.m. Driven largely by anticipation of the iPad 3 release, Apple’s market cap reached $505.8 billion — a height not seen by a company since the last recession. Apple’s market value outstrips that of the second most valuable company, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) by a clear $93.4 billion. Consumers are anticipating the release of a next-generation iPhone by the third quarter in addition to the pending release of the iPad 3, and investor confidence shows no signs of flagging.
iPad Trademark Hearing Begins: Proview Electronics brings its case to the Guangdong Higher People’s Court today in the continuing trademark litigation against Apple over the iPad brand name. According to CNN, Apple maintains that it carried out the transfer of trademark rights in good faith and that Proview is trying to renege on an honest contract; Proview claims that Apple approached them for brand rights through the guise of a shell company and closed the deal under deceptive terms. It seems unlikely that Proview will win a favorable verdict. In the chance that Proview is handed a favorable ruling, the only probable outcome would order the renaming of Apple tablets sold within China — a change unlikely to dent sales.
Apple Predicted to Declare Quarterly Dividend: In light of breaking a $500 billion market value, Apple is likely to declare a quarterly dividend later this year. Analysts at Bloomberg report that the dividend will likely set at about $2 per share, a projection based on recent dividends paid by other major tech companies, especially Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Tim Cook recently stated that Apple’s Board is in “active discussion” about what to do with Apple’s $97.6 billion in cash and investments, stating that such a sum is “more than we need to run a company.” Apple generated nearly $16 billion in cash the first quarter of FY2012 and is predicted to generate a total of $75 billion by the end of its fiscal year; paying a dividend will likely yield further benefits for both the company and its investors.
Adam Patterson is Assistant Editor of InvestorPlace. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. For more from the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
