Warren Buffett Decides to Throw Apple (AAPL) a Bone This Time

24/7 Wall St. Key Points:

• Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A | BRK-A Price Prediction, BRK.B) maintained its large Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) position in Q4 2023 after trimming it in prior quarters, signaling renewed confidence.
• Apple’s near-term growth depends on AI-driven enhancements to the iPhone and potential excitement around the rumored iPhone 16 SE release.
• While Apple lacks major new product launches, continued investor support from Buffett reduces immediate downside risk.
• A quick conversation with a financial advisor can help you unpack your savings, spending, and goals for your money. With SmartAsset’s free tool, you can connect with vetted financial advisors in minutes. (Sponsor)

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Transcript:

[00:00:04] Doug McIntyre: So Berkshire Hathaway released through the SEC it’s holdings, which it has to do. her. And one of the notable was is that lo and behold Apple is still their single largest position. Now, Buffett had been selling out of that aggressively the last two or three quarters.

[00:00:27] Doug McIntyre: And, you know, I, I talk about a vote of no confidence. I mean, selling in two or three consecutive quarters out of a position that was by far your biggest. So, I don’t know, in Buffett’s case, not selling something is sort of a vote of confidence.

[00:00:45] Lee Jackson: Oh, I think it’s absolutely a vote of confidence, because he probably felt that, well, I’ve trimmed it enough, I’ve made huge money on it, and he may have had somewhat of a seller’s remorse with Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), because he, you know, a stock he’d owned for years, and he sold a ton of it, and it immediately almost doubled.

[00:01:05] Lee Jackson: You know, it, I mean, it didn’t double, but it was probably up 30%, 40%, you know, maybe a little bit more. Maybe he had a little bit of seller’s remorse, but he didn’t buy a whole lot in the fourth quarter. You know, he added a little bit of Dominos (NASDAQ: DPZ). He finally got rid of Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA), which he’s been selling back and forth, which was very odd.

[00:01:23] Lee Jackson: He bought it, sold it, bought it back, a small position and sold that. And then he bought a little more of the pool company that, you know, that he added last year. But yeah, I think you’re right. Holding on to Apple in a big position like that, I think that’s pretty much the best vote of confidence they could have had in a while.

[00:01:41] Doug McIntyre: I mean, it’s hard to see based on Apple’s lack of new major products other than the, the iPhone 16. I guess if you’re looking at Apple from the outside, you’re hoping that Apple Intelligence, you know that that they’re out AI play on the phones, you know, gets one or two upgrades because it wasn’t impressive. If you’re a shareholder, if you want that stock to move, you’ve really got to hope that either iPhone sales hockey stick which I don’t think happens this late in the cycle You wouldn’t think so or that their AI play suddenly becomes more compelling.

[00:02:18] Doug McIntyre: I mean if i’m If I’m holding the stock or thinking of buying it, that’s what I’m, that’s all I’ve got to look at.

[00:02:26] Lee Jackson: Yeah. And I read something recently where they were going to do like a iPhone 16 SE. Yeah. And that, and that is supposed to come out summer of this year, I think. I don’t have a lot of data on this, but maybe that one will have something that will be Earth shaking to the industry.

[00:02:48] Lee Jackson: I did get a 16 myself because we’ve got numerous issues and it does, you know, Siri works better but ostensibly it’s the same thing, but it does work with the iOS 18, which is now into version three or so. So it’ll be interesting to see if they can come out with another product in the summer that could really generate some excitement.

[00:03:09] Doug McIntyre: But for everybody who holds Apple or is interested in it, Warren Buffett, you know, he, he stuck to his guns. He did not sell anything in the fourth quarter of this year.

[00:03:19] Lee Jackson: No, he didn’t. And again, I know Tim Cook has always said, Oh, he’s our biggest shareholder and we love them. And, you know, this and that. And I’m sure they do.

[00:03:28] Lee Jackson: But the last thing they will see is another 400 million shares for the bid. They really don’t want to see that. So, yeah, I think that is a good sign. And hopefully things will start to work more in their way as the year goes by.