10 Best Big-Name Stocks to Buy Right Now According to Short Sellers

3) Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 184

Short % of Shares Outstanding (August 15, 2024): 0.80%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) designs a variety of consumer electronic devices, including smartphones (iPhone), tablets (iPad), PCs (Mac), smartwatches (Apple Watch), AirPods, and TV boxes (Apple TV), among others.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s long-term outlook is supported by its competitive advantages, which include high customer switching costs, intangible assets, and network effects around its iOS ecosystem. The company provides an expansive ecosystem of tightly integrated hardware, software, and services, which locks up the customers. Ultimately, this helps in generating strong profitability. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s move to in-house chip development accelerated its product development and increased differentiation.

Wall Street analysts believe that a higher mix of premium products, such as iPhone Pro models, should help improve product gross margins moving forward. Regarding AI, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is all prepared to make a massive push to the industry, given its release of iPhone 16 and the launch of Apple Intelligence, which is a generative overhaul of the operating systems. Apple Intelligence is an exciting development and Apple is on the cusp of an iPhone upgrade super cycle.

This new AI platform is expected to bring generative features throughout the company’s product lineup. These include a major upgrade to Siri, image, and language generation tools. Therefore, the company’s interconnected ecosystem should continue to act as a tailwind.

In 3Q 2024, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) released 3Q 2024 financial results, with revenues reaching $85.8 billion, up 5% YoY, and earnings per diluted share touching $1.40, up 11% YoY. Its strong financial performance demonstrates the continued innovation and growth in critical areas like AI and machine learning.

The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on the shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) from $265.00 to $275.00, giving it a “Buy” rating on 2^nd August.

Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC, an investment management company, released its second quarter 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“Investors were reminded of the strength of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ecosystem as management demonstrated how generative AI solutions would be integrated into Apple’s 1.2 billion iPhone installed base. Apple plans to integrate generative AI features into its iOS 18, which will be broadly released in the fall with the iPhone 16. We believe Apple should benefit from generative AI as it will 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.”