Apple to 'evaluate' hedge fund's cash demand

Followinga complaint from a notable Apple investorthat the company needs to share more of its cash pile with investors, the iPhone and Mac maker says it's"evaluating" its possibilities.Ina statementtoday, Apple said it's aware its cash has grown beyond what it needed to run day-to-day business -- hence its dividend and stock buyback plan -- but that it is still talking about possible options down the line."Apple's management team and Board of Directors have been in active discussions about returningadditional cash to shareholders," the company said this afternoon, just before the close of trading on Wall Street. "As part of our review, we will thoroughly evaluate Greenlight Capital's current proposal to issue some form of preferred stock. We welcome Greenlight's views and the views of all of our shareholders."The company added that it had found itself "in the fortunate position of continuing to generate large amounts of cash, including $23 billion in cash flow from operations in the last quarter alone."We find ourselves in the fortunate position of continuing to generate large amounts of cash... --AppleEarlier today Apple was sued by Greenlight Capital, a hedge fund run by David Einhorn. In the group's complaint, Einhorn said that the company needed to distribute preferred stock to current shareholders, and that Apple had balked at the idea when it was first discussed.Einhorn earlier said he understands that Apple wants a large cash hoard to be strategic, make acquisitions, and be secure,but he believes issuing high-yielding preferred shares to existing shareholders would allowApple to share the value on the balance sheet but still hold a large amount of cash.