We recently compiled a list of the 14 Best American Tech Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stands against the other American tech stocks.
American stocks moved up a bit on Monday, April 14 as investors focused on news about tech companies getting a break from President Trump’s tariffs. The S&P 500 rose by 0.8%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by 0.6%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by about 0.7%.
READ ALSO: 11 Best American Energy Stocks to Buy Now and 10 Best Stocks Under $10 to Buy Now.
In recent days, President Trump and his advisers have given mixed signals on the future of tariffs on China and on specific industries. Over the weekend, big American tech companies scored a victory when it was revealed that the US had not put tariffs on smartphones, computers, and other consumer electronics.
However, on Sunday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that these electronics would soon be covered under new tariffs, which would be different from those imposed on specific countries. President Trump also posted on social media that there would be “no exception” for these products. He also said that the government is looking at semiconductors and the entire electronics supply chain in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations.
Last week was the best week for the major indexes since at least 2023. However, with all this uncertainty, Wall Street is getting ready for another week of potential tariff-fueled ups and downs.
Methodology
To compile our list of the 14 best American tech stocks to buy now, we used stock screeners from Finviz and Yahoo Finance to find the largest American technology companies. We sorted our results based on market capitalization and picked the top 30 American stocks. Next, we focused on the 14 stocks most favored by institutional investors. Data for the hedge fund sentiment surrounding each stock was taken from Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database of more than 1,000 elite hedge funds. Finally, the 14 best American tech stocks to buy now were ranked in ascending order based on the number of hedge funds holding stakes in them as of Q4 2024.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A wide view of an Apple store, showing the range of products the company offers.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is an American multinational technology company that designs, manufactures, and markets consumer electronics, software, and services. The company is best known for its products like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers, as well as services such as the App Store, iCloud, and Apple Pay. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ranks among the best American stocks to invest in.
On April 9, Jefferies upgraded Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) from “Underperform” to “Hold” but lowered the price target to $167.88 from the previous $202.33. This adjustment reflects concerns about the potential impacts of a global recession on iPhone demand and the expected price increases for future iPhone models. The analyst noted that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is expected to be exempted from US tariffs because of its commitment to invest $500 billion in the US over the next four years. The analyst believes that the company will make further investments in US manufacturing, possibly including iPhone production. Despite this, a growing risk of a global recession could have a negative impact on iPhone demand. Jefferies has lowered its iPhone shipment forecasts by 3.6%, 7.7%, and 5.5% for fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027 respectively, which leads to a reduction in projected revenue by 2%, 4.1%, and 3.5% for the same fiscal years. The firm anticipates that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will raise iPhone prices by $50 in 2026 for the iPhone 18 and by $100 in 2027 for the iPhone 19. These increases in price are expected to be mainly driven by higher hardware costs. Following these revisions, Jefferies now estimates earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) lower than market consensus by 2.5%, 8.5%, and 3.4% for fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027, respectively.
Overall, AAPL ranks 6th on our list of the best American tech stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AAPL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
