Ternus Era: Nvidia Poised to Outpace Apple in Buybacks
Nvidia is poised to surpass Apple in stock buybacks and dividends under new CEO John Ternus, according to a prediction from The Motley Fool. Apple's buyback budget has been steadily declining since its peak of $100 billion, while Nvidia's capital return program has room to run.
Under Tim Cook's leadership, Apple grew from a market cap of around $350 billion to over $4 trillion by releasing new versions of popular products and expanding its services. However, with Ternus at the helm, Apple is expected to prioritize innovation over relying on buybacks to fuel earnings growth.
Nvidia has been increasing its buybacks in lockstep with its free cash flow, while major tech stocks like Microsoft and Alphabet have pulled back in buybacks as they invest heavily in AI. Nvidia's latest quarter saw it spend $19.73 billion on buybacks and $6.05 billion on dividends.
While Apple has increased its dividend every year since 2012, the increases are typically small and in the mid-single digits. In contrast, Nvidia raised its dividend by 2,400% earlier this year.