Stock price when the opinion was issued
12-month price target of $258. One of his Top Picks last time around. Many horses in the race, and you know they're going to do something on the AI side. May do something with TSLA and Grok. Hold on. If it gets above $250, start writing some calls.
Not in his fund, but in a lot of separately managed accounts.
Is adding to his position, being underweight. He wants to buy more at $190-195, but today's tariff report produced enough negativity (down over 2%) to add shares. Apple can hold its ground in a sideways/down market. There are many questions about tariffs going forward. Today was the first of three tranches of buying.
The CEO is open to M&A activity with $113 billion worth of cash while their $100 billion share buyback has been in autopilot the last few years. Investors like the idea of Apple potentially buying a company to lead in the AI race. The earnings and revenue growth, sales in China and services sales were all good. The big story is the M&A potential.
Usually, they allow others to invest in new technologies, let's them make the mistakes, then Apple enters to capture the entire space, as in music and the phone. He expects the same game plan with AI. This strategy is already baked into the shares. The PE is richly valued. Part of this comes to shifting services to 28% of their overall business, a high-margin business, including their app store. And the app store will be their entry into AI. Over 20 years, the shares have seen good and bad times, including three 50% drops. Recent revenue and earnings growth has been poor, so you need faith for the long run.
A trade, not a long-term investment. He trimmed it, because he's been buying higher from $206, and will sell when he sees exhaustion in shares. $235 was a temporary ceiling, so he took some profits (sold half his position). He doesn't look at prices, but how the stock reacts to the overall environment. Is purely a trade.
Sat out capex on data centres and infrastructure that's depleting other companies' cash balances. Time will tell whether this was a good move or not. The big capex spend may not have been the most efficient use of capital.
Core company beliefs are free cashflow and earnings. Consistently buys back shares, which enhances return to shareholders. Apple owns the end consumer. Don't count it out yet.
Is -6% the past year and -19.7% this year, and has been trading sideways as the rest of tech has been roaring. The company last gave tepid guidance because of Trump (25% tariff on iPhones), and gave an adverse ruling against their app stores. The stock is out of favour, uncertain, but he will hold on. Past downturns have turned out to be buy opportunities. Trades at 28x PE, down from 35.5% at its peak last July. Their recurring service revenue now amounts to 25% of overall, and growing faster than all other businesses. AAPL has bottomed several times in recent years, bottoming at 25x PE, the last time in early April after tariffs, then quickly recovered. During the 2022 bear market, the PE plunged to 20x PE, then rebounded strongly. Since it bottomed at the start of 2023, shares rallied 93% of the time in the next 3 years. Meanwhile, the earnings growth is 14% projected this year, while the S&P is projected at only 9.4%. So, Apple deserves a premium, now trading at 28x PE vs. the S&P's 23x. Apple PEG ratio is under 2 while the S&P is 2.5, so if Apple had that PEG ratio, AAPL should sell at 35x PE and $250. Therefore, buy Apple at $180, too cheap to ignore, or 25x PE, but if it shares off the negativity, this should trade at 35x PE.