Apple Inc (AAPL-Q)

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.

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.

He bought even more because of the stock's momentum. Momentum is crucial in today's market. Plus, Apple has such a dominant, huge market cap--portfolio managers underweighted this earlier this year, but are not rebuilding positions in Apple quickly.

AI is an important piece, but not the only one for a company like this. Terrific cashflow, cash reserves. Strength in the balance sheet speaks for itself. Some of the results this week are conducive to higher returns going forward and, in turn, a higher stock price. Making investments in US, so US government no longer looking to punish them.

Has broken above 200-day MA today, which is one positive technical signal.

Of all the Mag 7's, this one has to buy parts and assemble phones. iPhone improvements have been fewer and fewer over time. Behind on AI. Will remain a great company, just got overvalued. Making moves to turn things around. Upside from here, but he wouldn't buy this over Mag 7 peers. See his Top Picks.

It's been moving up the last 5 days and has momentum. But the fundamentals remain flat--flat revenues and earnings. He prefers companies that have great fundamentals and are truly undervalued.

Recently sold it from his fund, but this morning bought it for himself because of positioning and momentum. You must buy this today. Revenue growth has flattened though, and Apple's weighting in the market is a problem because Apple is so large. A lot of people, on this news, will now buy this stock. Also, since early April, the stock has been resilient.

Tom Cook and Jensen Huang have to be diplomats now to deal with Trump and his tariffs, or they will have a China problem. Apple is trying to stay out of the ire of Trump. The street has been negative on Apple, asking what they're doing in AI, but the street hasn't changed its price targets.

Half of their sales remain the iPhone, and people are changing that iPhone less often. They're struggling with VR. Also, they're not a cheap stock. Until the last quarter, revenue growth has been flat. They're lagging in AI, a huge question mark.

Is the only Mag 7 stock he doesn't own, because it is the only name with negative performance in 1-, 6- and 12-month time frames. He no longer owns it.

Now that tariffs are getting resolved, you could take a look at this name for potential growth going forward. iPhone brand will continue to do well. Expects it to fully catch up on its AI offering. Lots of cash on hand. Money spent on now-cancelled EVs can be diverted to R&D in AI. 

Is wavering about his call on this to own it, not trade it. Is expecting a non-exciting report and a slowdown in the growth in services revenue. Will they still receive $20 billion from Google to make Google Apple's default search engine, something a judge wants to end. Also, Epic is fighting Apple's policy to take a 30% cut from any transaction from any app downloaded from the Apple strore.