Jim Cramer Was Bullish on 10 Stocks Due to Share Buyback Activity

2. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer was bullish on due to share buyback activity. Cramer called it a “buyback monster” during the episode and said:

“Second, don’t forget that Apple, the second largest company in the world, also happens to be a buyback monster, having shrunk its share count by 33.7% since the end of 2015. The stock’s up 933% over that same period. I always say own Apple, don’t trade it, so tonight, I just want to point out that this is a $4 trillion company that still managed to repurchase more than a third of its shares over the past decade.”

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) manufactures and sells devices such as the iPhone, Mac, iPad, along with its line-up of wearables and accessories. The devices are supported by the company’s app ecosystem, AppleCare, and cloud tools. Cramer highlighted the company’s “immense cash position” during the December 11 episode, as he remarked:

“Apple’s not really impacted by lower rates. It has an immense cash position. It’ll probably earn less on its cash. It’s considered an AI loser even though I think their installed base of over 2.3 billion devices and 1.5 billion users means one of these big chatbots will pay them a fortune to be the default platform, just like Google did with search. The long knives are always out for Apple. But if we all think that the hyperscalers are spending too much money on data centers… then how the heck can we chide Apple for not doing much at all of spending on data centers?

If OpenAI were to pay Apple $25 billion a year to be its default AI choice, it might be the greatest free rider case in history. If Gemini were to do it… with today’s Alphabet stock already red hot, that would go up another 50 points. All that said, Apple simply is not a beneficiary of lower rates. And when you’re within a day of a rate cut, it’s not the kind of stock money managers have any interest in. Apple’s a momentary yawner and an underperformer as people sell Apple to move into these industrials and these banks, the other stocks I talked about, like maybe the retailers. That’s just what’s happened. It’s happened no matter what.”