N’flix, Disney on Apple’s bucket list: Citi

Wall Street’s rumor-mongering about Apple’s merger and acquisition prospects is starting to look like post time at the Kentucky Derby.

Citigroup’s Apple analyst James Suva threw his hat into the ring Friday, covering every conceivable base. Suva suggests the most likely options for Apple are Netflix (40 percent odds) and Disney (25 percent odds).

Citi also suggested Apple might even scoop up Elon Musk’s electriccar manufacturer Tesla (5 percent odds), or video-game makers including Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, or Take-Two Interactive (10 percent each).

Suva’s odds-making is prompted by bets that the globe’s most profitable company will benefit from the Trump administration’s desire for US corporations to bring cash back into the country in return for a lower tax rate.

Apple has some $257 billion in cash on its books and has not provided many clues about how it will spend it.

But some, including Citi’s Suva, believe Apple could be considering a move to buy a video streaming service. The company’s business selling downloadable music and media has seen declines as consumers move to online streaming instead.

Talk of an Apple-Disney combination has also been heating up in the past few months. The Associated Press pointed out a merger would create the world’s first trillion-dollar company.

Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told the AP in an interview published on Tuesday, “We are looking at every size of acquisition, so we will see how it goes going forward.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook has historically been cautious about big deals. Many thought Apple would go after Time Warner, which instead accepted an offer from AT&T.