Apple Recap: Court Date, Shareholder Pain, Changing Priorities

Most of the buzz around Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on Tuesday was generated from comments made by chief executive Tim Cook at the Goldman Sachs technology conference in San Francisco. And while analysts and watchers were busy reviewing the question-and-answer session from Cook, investors reacted quickly, and disapprovingly. Apple dropped more than 2.5 percent to close at $467.84, reversing the gains it picked up on Monday. Here is a cheat sheet to the stories around the company:

Resolution Deadline

With two weeks to go for its annual shareholders meeting, Apple is planning to respond quickly to the lawsuit filed against it last week by David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital and find an early resolution to the conflict. The company is reportedly set to make a filing on Wednesday. Greenlight will follow with its own response on Friday before a hearing is set for early next week.

Greenlight, the hedge fund led by David Einhorn, filed the suit in an attempt to stop Apple from putting limitations on high-yield preferred stock options for shareholders. If Apple’s proposal passes, the company would have to put preferred security to a shareholder vote each time it wants to issue it. The proposal is set to be voted on during the annual meeting.

It’s clear that Apple is hoping to solve the issue as early as it can so that it doesn’t take center stage at the meeting. Late Monday evening, Judge Richard Sullivan of the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York granted the company’s request to fast track the case… (Read more)