We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Kid-Friendly Stocks To Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stands against the other kid-friendly stocks.

Expert Thinks Value Stocks are Making a Comeback

Investors and analysts alike are concerned about where equities are headed in 2025. On December 23, Eric Beyrich, Sound Income Strategies co-chief investment officer appeared in an interview on Yahoo Finance to share his market thesis for equities in 2025.

Beyrich shared his perspective on the market, emphasizing a possible rotation in 2025. He added that drug and mega-cap tech stocks have previously led the market, but as their growth rates continue to decline, a rotation is probable. He also emphasized that value names, especially those that have underperformed over the past two years, are expected to make a comeback. Adding to this, Beyrich suggested that these value names have comparable relative growth rates and their valuation multiples, more often than not, are a third of that of the market.

READ MORE: 10 Stocks That Will Make You Rich In 2025 and 12 Best Energy Stocks To Invest In Now.

Speaking of the S&P 500, excluding Big Tech, the market has underperformed, and with the growth rate for the big seven declining, the market emphasis will more likely gear towards value names. Beyrich also added that as rates come down, housing inflation is also expected to decline. He suggested that “abject extremes” are going to help value stocks, especially because the S&P 500 has been trading at 25 times its forward earnings. He emphasized that people have been investing in these stocks because they are scarce, and with growth rates declining, the market will shift away from more expensive names.

On the flip side, Beyrich acknowledged that some of the names are great companies with huge cash flows, but they do have a pricing issue. Beyrich also shed light on the nature of valuations, suggesting that they behave like pendulums, going extremes in both directions. Overall, he remains extremely bullish on cheap companies, especially those with solid catalysts for improvement.

Stocks with a sustainable and long-standing business model are often deemed safer and have been a household name for adults as well as kids.

Our Methodology

To come up with the 10 best kid-friendly stocks to buy right now, we went over multiple similar rankings on the internet. We then examined the hedge fund sentiment of each stock and picked the most popular ones. Our list is in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders as of Q3 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: 158

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), one of the most popular companies in the world, beat its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings expectations by reporting $94.9 billion in revenue which was up by 6% year-over-year. Of this, its product revenue accounted for nearly $70 billion and its services segment generated $24.9 billion. Its business performance brought in almost $27 billion in operating cash flow, making it possible for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to return more than $29 billion to its shareholders.

The company is a favorite, especially among kids, for its constantly updating product lineup and brand image. Keeping the momentum in check, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) delivered updates to Apple Music, Apple Intelligence, its hardware offerings, and other Apple features. Recently on December 11, the company announced an update to voice memos with layered recording in the iPhone 16 Pro lineup. On the same day, the company announced new features in Apple Intelligence allowing users to enhance the user experience immensely with more opportunities for personal expression and customization, emoji creation, and improved writing.

Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

“Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock was strong in the quarter as investors viewed the company’s generative AI roadmap and iPhone 16 product cycle positively. The market was reminded of the strength of the Apple ecosystem as management demonstrated how generative AI solutions would be integrated into its iOS 18 operating system, which was broadly released in the iPhone 16 late in calendar Q3. We believe Apple’s generative AI-enabled products should spur a meaningful iPhone upgrade cycle and create new avenues of monetization through its app store and advertising offerings. We believe this will support intrinsic value growth that will range between high single digits and low double-digits over our investment horizon.”

Overall AAPL ranks 1st on our list of the best kid-friendly stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that certain AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. 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.

READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock.

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