Apple Responds to Einhorn's Call for Preferred Shares

Right before the closing bell on Thursday, Apple

responded to calls from David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital to issued preferred shares to existing shareholders. Apple said it would "thoroughly evaluate Greenlight Capital's current proposal to issue some form of preferred stock" and that it was in active discussions to figure out how best to return cash to shareholders. At the company's annual meeting on February 27, Apple's shareholders will vote on Proposal 2, a proposal that, if adopted Einhorn claims would block the company from issuing preferred shares. In its response to Einhorn, however, Apple said that adopting Proposal 2 would not alter the company's ability to issue preferred shares. On Thursday morning, Einhorn argued that Apple could give shareholders the value of its impressive balance sheet while still retaining its existing war chest if the company simply issued preferred stock that yielded about 4%. Shares of Apple traded up into the close on Thursday, as investors anticipated the return of Apple's vast cash to shareholders.