(Bloomberg) -- To some, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s gutting of its Apple Inc. stake could be interpreted as a lack of conviction in the iPhone maker’s growth story. But many on Wall Street are urging investors to look past the news and stay calm.
The Warren Buffett-led conglomerate revealed Saturday that it sold almost half of its position in the tech giant during the second quarter. Its stake now stands at roughly $84 billion, down from about $140 billion at the end of March. The selling took place during a torrid run in the stock market that sent Apple shares 23% higher and pushed the S&P 500 from one record to the next.
Since 2016, when Warren Buffett first disclosed its stake in Apple, its shares have soared almost 900% as the company cemented its grip on the industry, delivering Berkshire billions of dollars worth of unrealized profits along the way.
“Buffett’s reduction of his Apple stake is merely about risk management,” said Joe Gilbert, senior portfolio manager at Integrity Asset Management. “If there were any concerns about the longer-term viability of Apple, Buffett would have exited the entire position. Similar to Berkshire’s other stock position reductions, Buffett has meaningful unrealized gains.”
Berkshire’s portfolio reveal comes just days after Apple released its own quarterly results, which showed a return to revenue growth and signaled that new AI features will boost iPhone sales in the coming quarters. Apple shares were steady after the earnings report and ultimately ended the week higher despite the broader selloff.
While the investment strategy of Buffett — long known as the Oracle of Omaha — is hard to ignore, Berkshire’s stake in Apple had gotten so large in recent years that some investors had begun to wonder whether the firm would have to trim its position to balance out its holdings. Even after the unwind, Apple remains Berkshire’s largest single position.
“If you’ve got this outsized position you take some profits and you reduce some of your concentration risk,” said Cathy Seifert, a research analyst at CFRA. “They still have a fairly concentrated portfolio,” she added.
Read: Berkshire Cuts Apple Stake by Almost Half in Selling Spree (2)
It’s also not the first time Berkshire has cut its stake in Apple. At its annual meeting in May, the firm revealed that it had reduced its position during the first quarter of the year. At the time, Buffett hinted to investors that tax implications may have played a role in the sale.
Representatives for Apple and Berkshire Hathaway didn’t respond to requests for comment outside of regular business hours on Sunday.
The latest announcement comes amid broader concern about the potential of an economic downturn ahead. Worse-than-expected jobs data on Friday stoked fears the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to start reducing interest rates, sending the Nasdaq 100 Index into a technical correction and the Cboe Volatility Index toward 25.
Megacap peers including Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have all tumbled from record highs reached in early July. In total, Nasdaq 100 members have shed more than $3 trillion in value over that stretch with both Nvidia Corp. and Tesla Inc. each seeing declines of more than 20%. Apple, meanwhile, is down about 6% from its all-time high.
It’s possible that Berkshire, like an increasing number of investors, wants to see more proof that Apple’s AI investments will pay off with revenue growth and isn’t convinced that’s happening fast enough, according to Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management.
Apple’s valuation multiple — at 33 times future profits as of mid-July — was 11 points higher than that of the broader S&P 500, a gap that was last seen in the aftermath of the pandemic and the financial crisis, data compiled by Bloomberg show. But despite the valuation premium, Mulberry thinks it still makes sense for investors to own Apple shares. “They’re still in a healthy balance sheet position and they’re still going to grow earnings faster than the broader market,” he said.
Others, including Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, point to Apple’s brand loyalty and future growth - it’s on the cusp of what he thinks is a major upgrade cycle that will drive revenue growth in 2025 and 2026.
“While some could read this as confidence worry, Apple just delivered a robust quarter with a massive AI driven super cycle ahead and we do not view this as the time to hit the exit button,” Ives said.
Of course, Apple isn’t the only stake that Berkshire has trimmed lately — it’s been unloading shares of Bank of America Corp., cutting its position by 8.8% since mid-July. Some see that as a sign that Buffett doesn’t see any individual problems with either company, but is instead betting that the US consumer and broader economy are set to weaken.
“Buffett may feel we’re about to go into a recession, so by raising cash now he will be able to buy companies cheap later on,” said Jim Awad, senior managing director at Clearstead Advisors. . “He may smell an opportunity coming.”
--With assistance from Ryan Vlastelica, Subrat Patnaik and Natalia Kniazhevich.
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