The dystopian reality that has plagued the stocks of large technology and internet companies which are listed on North America’s most prestigious exchanges is now a few months long.

The overall decline in US tech stock values over a prolonged period compared to the buoyant baskets of ‘old fashioned’ stocks on the other side of the Atlantic is a clear indication that relative newcomers to a big cap market with little provenance are not necessarily that favorable among investors at the moment.

London’s mining, entertainment, food production, telecommunications, construction, travel and retail stocks have held up well, despite being legacy industries, compared to the avantgarde internet giants and EV startups of Silicon Valley which are listed on NASDAQ and NYSE. Even Tesla has been losing value at the rate of a depleting battery over recent months.

There is one exception, however, and that is Apple.

Two days ago, Apple stock was at its highest point in over one month, and today, whilst that steady climb that has taken place during the past 30 days has begun to tail off, the value of Apple stock is still strong, finishing the New York session and beginning today’s trading at $153.20.

Over the past month, Apple stock has been relatively volatile, however the overall upward direction demonstrates a 12.7% increase over its price this time one month ago, with the five-day moving average looking a little more volatile, with some sharp upward and downward movements having taken place during the past week. However, despite those sharp movements, the overall value has remained steady with only a 0.41% drop over the past five days.

Perhaps one of the factors that has made Apple stock stand out from the other big tech stocks which have experienced value decreases compared to Apple’s increases is that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway investment company has increased its stake in Apple this week.

Berkshire Hathaway already had a very large steak in Apple, however the fund management company has now acquired Alleghany, which is an American insurance company which owned shares in Apple. As part of the takeover by Berkshire Hathaway, Alleghany’s share in Apple was transferred to Bershire Hathaway.

Berkshire Hathaway’s overall Apple stake, which includes around 20 million shares held by its New England Asset Management subsidiary, stood at 916 million shares or 5.8% of the company at the end of December last year, however the position was worth over $140 billion as of Tuesday’s close, making it easily the most valuable holding in Berkshire’s portfolio.

Warren Buffett is well known for his astute shrewdness and conservative attitude to risk, which puts his interest in Apple at a different end of the spectrum to those SPAC listings which took place 2 years ago where a gung-ho approach was taken and previously unknown companies with unproven products had suddenly become valued at tens of millions of dollars, only to decrease once the reality sets in.

Apple’s reality is solid business and backing by one of the world’s most prudent and astute fund managers. That difference is clear when looking at investor response.

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Filed under: News - @ February 15, 2023 11:31 am