We recently compiled a list of the 7 Best Stocks to Buy for Long Term. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stands against the other stocks.

Market Strategist Says The Economy May Re-Accelerate on its Own

On September 23, Chris Watling, Longview Economics founder, CEO, and chief market strategist, appeared in an interview on Yahoo Finance to discuss the rate easing path and the impact it may have on the market.

According to Walting, the market is deeply divided on not two but three different sides. While some analysts and investors foresee a recession, others believe the economy is going towards a soft landing, and of those a small minority believe that the economy may accelerate at a rapid pace. Walting also added that while predicting the appropriate terminal rate is interesting, there is a lot more going on with the economy. Comparing economic conditions to the 2008 recession, households and corporations are in much better shape, hinting that a recession may not be the most likely outcome.

He believes that the economy may be slowing right now but it may experience faster reacceleration than before without the need for further falls. His advice to investors is to judge the economy based on multiple data points. As for the appropriate portfolio, Walting suggests that bonds are overcooked and gold must be given a pause. At the moment, the market is rotating away from tech into defensive sectors, and in the future, it may rotate more towards cyclical stocks.

The Fed is Thinking About Growth

As the S&P 500 recorded an upside following the Fed’s easing cycle, investors and analysts alike eye a soft landing for the economy. On September 26, Liz Miller, Summit Place Financial Advisors founder and president, appeared in an interview on Yahoo Finance to discuss the future of markets.

Miller states that the pivot has been great for the financial markets and now that the Fed is thinking about growth, investors are hopeful of a soft landing. She suggests that stocks in sectors such as housing, rental, finance, and consumer goods may benefit immensely from the easing interest rate cycle.

Miller suggests that the S&P 500 is not the best way to measure the performance of financial markets, given that it is skewed to the mega-cap tech stocks. Looking at other indices, other sectors have not made highs since December 2021. She believes the market may be flat but there is huge potential for upsides. Miller shares concerns over the Chinese economy and how it influences the global outlook. She suggests that for the global economy to balance, companies must work to regain consumer confidence in China.

Now that we have studied the appropriate portfolio mix for investors following the Fed’s decision, let’s take a look at the 7 best stocks to buy for the long term.

Our Methodology 

To come up with the 7 best stocks to buy for the long term we examined promising stocks hedge funds are piling into. These are blue chip stocks with wide moats and have long track records of driving shareholder returns. We have ranked the stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q2 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 184

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the company behind the iPhone, is one of the best stocks to buy for the long term. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also offers services such as iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple Music, and Apple TV+.

In the FQ3 2024, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) logged $85.8 billion in quarterly revenue, up by 5% year-over-year. Of this, the iPhone reported revenue worth $39.3 billion and Mac revenue was $7 billion, up by 2% from a year ago. Apple’s economic moat lies in its consistent financial performance. Over the past 10 years, the company has grown its revenues and net income by 8% and 10%, respectively.

In the fiscal third quarter of 2024, the company launched Apple Intelligence, a personal intelligence system backed by AI. Apple Intelligence is integrated into all new iPhone, iPad, and Mac models. The launch of iPhone 16 and iOS 18 is expected to drive strong financial results for the company for the rest of 2024.

Analysts are bullish on AAPL and their 12-month median price target of $250 points to a 10% upside from current levels. Overall, AAPL was held by 184 hedge funds in the second quarter of 2024, with total stakes worth $124.18 billion. According to the Insider Monkey database,  Berkshire Hathaway is the top shareholder of the company with a position worth $84.25 billion

Columbia Contrarian Core Fund stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) – Despite the stock falling after announcing earnings in late May, Apple regained ground toward the end of the quarter, fueled by the company’s long-awaited AI announcement at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WDC). At the conference, the company showcased some of its new AI features powered by Apple Intelligence that would be coming to Apple products and also announced a partnership with ChatGPT. Investors greatly welcomed the announcement of Apple’s AI strategy and the stock surged, passing Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company (although this hallmark wouldn’t last). Beta testing of these new features will be coming later this summer, but the initial promise and excitement looks to be a potential catalyst for an upgrade cycle, as the company looks to persuade users who have had the same smartphone for years to consider an upgrade.”

Overall AAPL ranks 3rd on our list of the best stocks to buy for long term. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AAPL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.