The Morning Brief: Apple Soars on Earnings, Buyback Plans

All eyes will be on Apple’s stock Tuesday after the maker of the iPad and iPhone and a big hedge fund favorite late Monday reported fiscal second-quarter revenues and earnings that easily beat consensus forecasts. In addition, the tech giant announced several measures to return capital to shareholders. Apple said its board authorized an increase in its planned share buyback to $140 billion from $90 billion, and a hike in its quarterly dividend by 11 percent. The stock jumped 1.8 percent in after-hours trading after rising 1.8 percent in the regular session. It is now up more than 20 percent for the year. Entering the new year, 12 percent of hedge funds that specialize in equities held Apple among their top-10 stocks.

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Another former hedge fund executive is headed to the slammer. Lawrence Herzing, a former controller of Greenwich, Connecticut-based Contrarian Capital Management was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling $9.2 million from his firm, which specialized in distressed securities and recently managed $3.9 billion, according to Reuters. He was also ordered to pay more than $5 million in restitution, including the proceeds from the sale of his home, according to the report. Herzing, who received credit for cooperating with law enforcement authorities, had earlier pled guilty to one count of wire fraud.

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Davidson Kempner disclosed that as of April 16 it owned nearly 6.6 million shares of TRW Automotive Holdings, or 5.71 percent of the supplier of automotive systems. The regulatory filing indicates it is a passive position.

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Kenneth Griffin’s Chicago-based Citadel disclosed it owns 5.1 percent of Tuesday Morning Corp. Shares of the upscale home goods retailer were down 3.4 percent on Monday.

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Falcon Edge Capital disclosed it owns 5.9 percent of Jumei International Holding, the Chinese online retailer of beauty products. New York-based Falcon Edge was founded in mid-2012 by Richard Gerson, a founding executive with “Tiger Cub” John Griffin of Blue Ridge Capital, who still runs the hedge fund firm.

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