Apple Inc. (AAPL) Vs. Intel Corporation (INTC) – Which Is The Better Investment?

Quality #2: Shareholder- oriented company

Last year, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) earned more than $20 billion in cash. With this huge profit, Intel spent more than $16 billion returning capital to its owners via cash dividends ($4 billion) and share buybacks ($12 billion). In short, shareholders at Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) kept 80% of the profits. Since Intel is a $100 billion company, this translates into a shareholder yield (cash + share buybacks, divided by market cap) of 16%. That’s extremely impressive.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), on the other hand, is a totally different story. The company earned $50 billion in cash last year. How much of those vast riches did its shareholders get? Almost nothing – $4.5 billion in total dividends (cash and net share buybacks). The company kept more than 90% of its earnings. I believe that Apple understands its business vulnerability very well, which is why it keeps such a massive cash cushion of more than $150 billion (and counting).

The Fool thinks tech, the right way

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is much more liked than Intel by Wall Street, but this may change very quickly. I believe that due to its massive technological moat and shareholder friendliness, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is a much better bet than Apple down the road.

The article Apple Vs. Intel – Which Is The Better Investment? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Shmulik Karpf.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.