5 Most Popular Retail Investor Stocks in 2023

3. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders:  135

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) remains one of the most popular retail investor stocks in 2023. Earlier this month, data from IDC showed Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) suffered steep declines in Mac sales in the first quarter. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell after the report. However, investment firm Bernstein’s analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a note to investors that research firms like IDC and Gartner have not been totally accurate in the past when it comes to predicting Mac revenues. Sacconaghi has a Market Perform rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares gained after the Bernstein report.

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, 135 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). The biggest stakeholder of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the period was Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway which owns an $116 billion stake in the company.

Wedgewood Partners made the following comment about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:

“Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also contributed to performance during the quarter. Apple grew revenues +3% (foreign exchange adjusted) as its various product lines normalized against difficult comparisons. Apple’s installed base continues to grow and is at over 1.8 billion devices and helps drive a software and services business that makes up about a third of the Company’s gross profit dollars. As we have highlighted in the past, Apple’s relentless focus on the development and integration between hardware (especially integrated circuits) as well as software, continues to add significant value for customers of their products and services. We expect this favorable competitive dynamic to continue for the foreseeable future.”