As Apple already has all the cash it needs to invest in what it can see as being profitable investments the logical thing to do would be for the dividenddistribution or the stock buybacks to be larger.
The next step in the right direction for CIT may do with a written agreement it has with the New York Federal Reserve about its risk control measurements, loans and leases, capital, liquidity, dividenddistribution and much more.
At these levels management is incentivized to create value through a narrowing of the discount, a special distribution or even a reinstatement of the dividend.
The company has added to the required payout when necessary to keep the distribution growing for 17 consecutive quarters, and the latest dividend yield puts it just short of 7%.
It said it would work with investors on a plan to make "a significant distribution of funds" available to shareholders on top of the share dividend payout for 2004.
These ordering rules are intended to be taxpayer-friendly, as S corporation shareholders would generally prefer to have a distribution treated as a tax-free return of basis than a taxable dividend.