5 Best Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire D.E. Shaw

2. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)

DE Shaw’s Stake: $1,986,452,533

DE Shaw owns a stake worth about $2 billion in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) as of the end of 2023. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi recently talked about his expectations on Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) AI plans which might include an “AI” phone:

“We expect potential AI capabilities that are also largely consistent with existing products, including advanced image and video capture/editing tools, translation and transcription, enhanced messaging support, enhanced Siri and greater automation in Music, among others. We also believe that Apple will look more tightly and seamless integrate its Apps for enhanced ease of use.”

The analyst has a $195 price target and a Market Perform rating for Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).

Horizon Kinetics stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:

“The full point is that if BYD has turned its attention from its domestic market to direct global competition, then other Chinese companies can do the same. The next most visible example of Chinese commercially applied technological prowess relates to the 2nd highest-weight company in the S&P 500, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

In September 2023, Huawei Technologies introduced its Mate 60 Pro smartphone. It uses its own, internally developed 5G enabled chip that is apparently competitive with the Apple A17 chip. For practical purposes it has the functionality of the iPhone 15 Pro. This came as a great surprise – perhaps even shock – to the U.S. technology community, because four years ago the U.S. placed strict sanctions on China’s access to state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing technology…” (Click here to read the full text)