Apple Could Have Purchased Any of 488 S&P 500 Companies -- Instead, It's Made an Aggressive $841 Billion Investment

Although Nvidia has been getting each the glory successful caller years arsenic Wall Street's artificial quality (AI) pioneer, it was Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) that paved the mode for today's "Magnificent Seven." Apple was the archetypal nationalist institution to scope the $1 trillion, $2 trillion, and $3 trillion marketplace headdress plateaus.

Although Apple's supercharged maturation heyday, spurred by the advent of the iPhone, appears to beryllium agelong gone, CEO Tim Cook and his squad aren't done making sizable investments successful the company's future. One specified investment, totaling northbound of $841 billion, would, successful theory, person been capable to get 488 of the existent 500 companies successful the benchmark S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC).

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Here's what's genuinely absorbing astir Apple's biggest investment: it has perfectly thing to bash with artificial intelligence, information centers, software, oregon immoderate of its carnal devices. Rather, it's an concern wholly designed to reward the company's semipermanent shareholders.

In fiscal 2013, with Apple's carnal devices, led by iPhone, generating overwhelming currency flow, the company's committee initiated a stock repurchase program. At times, Apple adjacent leaned into historically inexpensive indebtedness to substance stock buybacks. Here's however these buybacks person progressed implicit 13 fiscal years (Apple's fiscal twelvemonth ends successful precocious September):

• 2013: $22.95 cardinal successful buybacks

• 2014: $45 billion

• 2015: $35.253 billion

• 2016: $29.722 billion

• 2017: $32.9 billion

• 2018: $72.738 billion

• 2019: $66.897 billion

• 2020: $72.358 billion

• 2021: $85.971 billion

• 2022: $89.402 billion

• 2023: $77.55 billion

• 2024: $94.949 billion

• 2025: $90.711 billion

• 2026 (through fiscal Q1): $24.701 billion

Collectively, Apple has repurchased $841.1 cardinal of its communal banal and reduced its outstanding stock number by astir 44.3%. Companies with dependable oregon increasing nett income and a declining stock number should spot their net per stock (EPS) positively impacted done buybacks.

While there's small question that Apple's EPS maturation and its stock terms outperformance, comparative to the S&P 500, person been aided by assertive stock repurchases, the statement tin beryllium made that Apple's large concern is attempting to disguise its operational shortcomings.