Jeff Kilburg
Founder, CEO & CIO of KKM Financial, Contributor to CNBC
Apple is a safe haven amid AI-stock volatility and will gain momentum if it persists over the next two weeks through the midterms. New products and another defensive day bring a momentum push toward $358, then $367 in November closer. x.comÂ
Apple's balance sheet and lack of spend keep a bid under its stock whether the market rises or falls. That bid gets stronger with foldable phones that break. x.comÂ
Apple's roughly 40 times trailing and 37 times forward earnings make the shares too expensive ahead of next week's results. A short looks reasonable, though a sell-the-news reaction after earnings remains uncertain. x.com x.comÂ
Apple will keep hitting all-time highs because it makes money off Alphabet and both companies capture a return on that relationship, so negative takes on Siri AI, like @anandragn's, can be ignored. The near term is uncertain. x.comÂ
Apple is increasingly rewarded as a good steward of capital in the AI race, an AI beneficiary and a safe haven from the capex wars. In a recession triggered by an AI bubble popping, Apple would be the ultimate consumer staple and surprise to the upside, potentially scooping up AI infrastructure cheaply and benefiting from local LLMs. x.comÂ
Apple's roughly 35x forward earnings premium looks unsustainable. If fear around the AI trade fades, its gains could stall or reverse. x.com x.comÂ
Apple's quarter was a clean beat with broad strength, and it should read as bullish unless management's call walks down June-quarter expectations. iPhone grew 22%, Services 16% and China 28%, gross margin reached 49.3%, and Apple announced a $100B buyback. x.comÂ
Apple and Nvidia look protected by policy after President Trump bought them and other tech giants and then reversed tariffs that sent them surging, per a newly released disclosure. The administration has signaled through actions which companies it considers too important to fail, making these AI-backbone names unlikely targets of surprise regulation or punitive tariffs. Watch what gets bought in the next selloff. x.com x.comÂ
A round-number chase pushed Apple to a $5 trillion valuation. The market did the same with Walmart at $1 trillion earlier this year; it is probably a little early, but this is where an Apple short becomes worth considering. x.comÂ
Apple's upcoming earnings should be strong after record numbers in its seasonally weakest quarter. Large options buyers keep adding: a $10M call sweep went into next July's $400 calls, and the October $360 call whale rolled its other half for $30M in total. Institutional buy volume rose tenfold off this month's low, the stock's largest notional volume ever, on a retest of its breakout above the 2022 bear-market highs. x.com x.com x.comÂ