10 Stocks Analysts are Talking About Amid Trump’s Tariff War

4. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 158

Gil Luria, D.A. Davidson Managing Director, was recently asked on CNBC what Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) can do to mitigate the impact of tariffs. Here is what the analyst said:

“They’re going to have to accelerate the move to countries that are friendlier in terms of the new tariff regime in the new world that we’re going to live in. That starts with countries like India and Vietnam, but it continues to Mexico and other countries that Apple is going to have to move much of its production over the next few years. It started the process of diversifying, but that’s a multi-year process. So that’s why we’re hearing of urgent flights of planes full of iPhones out of India, because Apple has to move away. If we are going to decouple from China, which is still the likelihood, Apple has to move away from producing in China. It has to produce as little as possible there, maybe just for domestic consumption, in order to navigate the longer term. In the short term, it has some levers pushing expenses to suppliers, eating a little margins, passing some price increases to consumers. It’s going to be a rough year for Apple.”

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is desperately in need of new catalysts. The company’s revenue in China fell 8% in fiscal year 2024, following a 2% decline the previous year. The Chinese market accounts for about 15% of Apple’s total revenue, so this downtrend cannot be ignored.

Investors had hopes from the Wearables, Home, and Accessories segment, but so far, its performance has been weak. Vision Pro faces tough competition from Meta’s $500 Quest and the more affordable Quest 3S, making it hard to justify its $3,500 price tag. The failure of Apple’s HomePod, unable to compete with Amazon’s and Google’s lower-priced offerings, further highlights the challenges in this market.

Apple’s iPhone 16 has not shown promising growth prospects yet, and investors are still in a wait-and-see mode on the AI platform.

Columbia Seligman Global Technology Fund stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“The fund maintained a position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) 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.”