In today’s episode of the 24/7 Wall St. podcast Doug McIntyre and Lee Jackson discuss what would happen to shares of Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) if their largest shareholder, Warren Buffett, starts to trim his stake. Because of how much The Oracle of Omaha owns, even minor sales could spook Wall St. and send shares careening lower.
Transcript:Â
So another piece of bad news for Apple, there was one study about four weeks ago that showed iPhone sales in China were down 20% year over year, and there was another one two days ago that said they were down 19%, so fairly consistent.
China is the world’s largest smartphone market, and Apple investors are now asking themselves the question, what is gonna save us here?
Lee, one of Apple’s largest investors, maybe its largest, is Warren Buffett.
So what’s Warren Buffett going to do?
You know, that’s really a good question, Doug, because remember, he did sell 10 million shares to cut his stake down a little bit.
He still owns a 5.9% stake of the total float, and it makes up 41% of Berkshire Hathaway.
And I think if you’re an Apple investor and things start to slide off the cliff a little bit, what’s he going to do?
He can’t sell it because if he does start selling, the stock will just absolutely collapse.
And between, he has 905 million shares.
So that could prove to be a pretty dicey sell-off if he does indeed start to lose his love of the stock.
ALERT: Take This Retirement Quiz Now (Sponsored)
Take the quiz below to get matched with a financial advisor today.
Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.
Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future
Take the retirement quiz right here.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Editors' Picks
