5 Safe Stocks To Buy According To Hedge Funds

03. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q2, 2022: 128

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the most innovative companies in the world and has a history of releasing groundbreaking products that have revolutionized the tech industry. On October 28, Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring, who kept an Overweight rating and $177 price target on Apple shares, said Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) September quarter beat and “in-line to above Street” December quarter guidance was “better than feared” and “illustrates the consistency of Apple’s ecosystem.”

Like other tech companies, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) faces headwinds, expecting the strong dollar to negatively affect the company’s international earnings in fiscal Q1. For Q4, however, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) performed pretty well. For the quarter, the company reported EPS of $1.29 on sales of $90.1 billion versus the consensus of $1.17 on sales of $88.9 billion for the fourth quarter. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also returned over $29 billion in capital to shareholders.

According to hedge funds, the stock is ranked high among the safe stocks to buy. At the end of Q2 2022, 128 hedge funds were bullish on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and held stakes worth $143 billion in the company. Of those, Berkshire Hathaway was the top shareholder in the company and held stakes worth $122 billion.

Here is what Wedgewood Partners had to say about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its third-quarter 2022 investor letter:

“Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) grew revenues +5% (foreign exchange adjusted and excluding Russia) driven by record iPhone revenues that were up about +3% on an exceptional year ago comparison of +50%. Apple’s installed base is over 1.8 billion devices which helps drive a software and services business that has generated almost $80 billion of revenue over the past 4 quarters. As we have highlighted in the past, Apple’s relentless focus on the development and integration between hardware (especially ICs) as well as software, continues to add significant value for customers of its products and services. We expect this favorable competitive dynamic to continue for the foreseeable future.”