Apple to return $200 billion to holders: Analyst

An Apple store in New York
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

The three-year anniversary of Apple's announcement of a record capital return program is approaching in April, and one analyst believes the cash juggernaut will mark that occasion with a new $200 billion program to buy back shares and raise its dividend.

Kulbinder Garcha of Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to"outperform" from "neutral" Tuesday because of this expected announcement, seeing the shares 19 percent higher over the next 12 months from Monday's closing price. The analyst points out that Apple has more cash on hand than it had when the program began.