“The surprise departure of Apple’s retail chief, Angela Ahrendts, leaves two questions. Why did she leave? And had she done a good job? Investors can’t know the answer to either,” Robert Cyran writes for Reuters Breakingviews. “The $821 billion smartphone maker has a penchant for hiding information that investors would find useful. The lack of clarity helps explain the valuation discount hanging over its stock.”
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“Ahrendts received $170 million in compensation in her five-year stint at Apple,” Cyran writes. “The company stopped breaking out the sales and profitability of its stores years ago, so outsiders are left guessing on performance. They can’t see whether Ahrendts’ departure, announced on Tuesday, signifies problems or a mission satisfactorily completed.”
“The stock trades at just 14 times estimated earnings, according to Refinitiv data, a lowly rating for a tech company,” Cyran writes. “Disclosing more might persuade the market the future is brighter than they thought. In any case it might earn Apple some credit for giving a fuller picture.”
Read more in the full article here.
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