Einhorn's Apple Argument Supported by Hidden Stock Gain (Update1)

(Updated to include statement from Apple.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The fact that Apple(AAPL) has handed shareholders a gain in the past year supports an argument made by Greenlight Capital Management's David Einhorn that the company should give more of its cash to shareholders.

Before the stock market opened Thursday, Apple's shares had fallen in the past 12 months. Still, the company was able to provide investors with a positive return, albeit one that significantly underperforms the S&P 500's near 12% gain.

The key is Apple's $2.65-a-share dividend that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company instituted in March 2012. Apple forecasts the program will return $45 billion in cash to investors over a three-year period.

Apple's current dividend has an appeal to investors, even amid the company's poor share performance in the past year and cries by the likes of Einhorn for bigger payouts.

In fact, the three quarterly dividends of $2.65 a share paid out to investors represents the company's only return in the past year. Apple paid out a dividend Thursday and will go ex-dividend until the company's fiscal second quarter.

Focusing on the almost $8 a share in dividends that Apple's paid out in the past three quarters is a shortsighted way of looking at the company, given its success in developing blockbuster products and near-record earnings.

Nevertheless, Apple's dividend-centric total return indicates the company may be entering new territory when it comes to thinking about returning cash to investors as a way to keep them invested in the stock.

Currently, Apple faces increasing uncertainty on the direction of its profit margins, as Google(GOOG) and Microsoft(MSFT) and others compete against the company's major breadwinners, the iPhone and iPad.

Meanwhile, billions in telecom carrier iPhone subsidies given by Verizon(VZ) and AT&T(T) may be at risk, according to some industry analysts.