D.E. Shaw Stock Portfolio: 5 Top Stock Picks

2. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 135 

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a consumer electronics firm. Latest 13F filings show that DE Shaw owned 9.4 million shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of September 2023 worth $1.6 billion, representing 1.69% of the portfolio of the fund. 

On November 16, Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth maintained a Strong Buy rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock and raised the price target to $240 from $225. 

At the end of the second quarter of 2023, 135 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $194 billion in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), compared to 131 in the previous quarter worth $165 billion.

In its Q3 2023 investor letter, Baron Funds highlighted a few stocks and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“After a strong start to the year, shares of Apple Inc. partially retraced their gains this quarter. Mixed second calendar quarter financial results, with iPhone, iPad, and Wearables revenue coming in just shy of consensus expectations, coupled with elevated investor concerns about the macro economy and potential weakness in consumer spending later this year, pressured shares. Despite these quarterly fluctuations in product sales, we are encouraged by several long-term trends, including: (1) revenue from higher-margin services like the App Store, iCloud, and Apple Pay, which are growing faster than the overall business, driving better revenue visibility and higher free-cash-flow (FCF) margins; (2) continued gains in global market share in smartphones, wearables, and other hardware categories; and (3) consistent returns of capital to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends. On top of these trends in the core business, Apple is thoughtfully investing in new categories like augmented reality, search, financial services, and streaming media content. We took advantage of weakness in the quarter to add to our position in Apple.”