Jim Cramer Says Big Tech Is Back and Deep Dives Into These 8 Stocks

6. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166

While discussing the tech giants’ earnings, Jim Cramer turned to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). He called the earnings report “strong” but with a “muddier outlook” in his view. He then went over the company’s earnings and gave his own analysis on them as well as the potential impact of tariffs on their costs. Here’s what he said:

“Apple gave us a classic top and bottom line beat with sales up 5% year-over-year and earnings per share up 8% despite strong FX headwinds in the period.

Everyone was worried about iPhone sales, but those came in nearly $1 billion ahead of expectations with Apple CEO Tim Cook telling me tonight there was no evidence of a temporary sales boost from consumers buying ahead of the tariffs. China sales a little light of but isn’t that expected by now? Offset by much better than expected sales in the Americas and the rest of Asia.

Apple continues to achieve record sales in many emerging markets. The stock, by the way, get this: It’s reduced its share count by over 40% since 2012. It announced a new $100 billion dollar share purchase repurchase tonight. Only the very consistent service revenue line was light. That was disappointing. Got to call it when I see it.

I expect that the company will give more color on the exposure to tariffs and the potential impact that they might have on the rest of the year during the earnings call which is currently ongoing. And while the strength of the first quarter results themselves are a great reminder of why it never really pays to get too negative on the world’s largest company, Apple’s estimating it will have $900 million in cost increases and tariffs next quarter. That is suboptimal. Not their fault. It will matter, but it’s suboptimal. […]

Even though it’s the slowest growing and the most tariffed, it does still make the most beloved products in the world.”

Here’s what Columbia Seligman Global Technology Fund said about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“The fund maintained a position in Apple throughout the quarter through the release of the company’s new iPhone 16 in September. Company leaders were excited about the release of the new model, as this is the first model that will feature enhanced AI capabilities through the Apple Intelligence features. Sales for the first few weeks in October and November trailed behind year over year sales from the iPhone 15, as availability of Apple Intelligence was not compatible with all iPhone models. Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI that has allowed the integration of ChatGPT into the Apple ecosystem, separate from the core Apple Intelligence features. This partnership highlights continued progress from Apple to introduce AI capabilities into its products and we expect the iPhone 17 to have even more expansive AI capabilities, increasing potential demand for the new model that is on track to be released in 2025.”