Warren Buffett investment pushes Apple closer to $1T
Warren Buffett’s bullish take on Apple has sent investors flocking to the tech giant.
For a second straight day, the iPhone maker’s stock hit a fresh record closing high Monday and moved closer to a $1 trillion market capitalization after the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway revealed that his company had added 75 million shares to its investment.
Buffett said in an interview with Liz Claman on FOX Business that the iPhone is “maybe the greatest consumer product ever developed” and that one of Berkshire Hathaway’s managers talked to him about investing more in Apple. The Oracle of Omaha added that he had already developed a perspective on the tech giant’s business.
“I’ve been familiar with the company,” he said, noting that he knew Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The addition of Apple shares increased Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in the company to 240 million shares, or roughly 5%. That leaves Vanguard as the only institutional investor with a larger ownership stake in Apple, according to Morningstar. Buffett suggested over the weekend that he would buy more shares at the right price.
Apple closed 0.7% higher at $185.16 on Monday, giving the company a market cap of $939 billion. No company has ever reached $1 trillion.
Buffett remained bullish while some investors grew worried over Apple’s growth prospects.
The stock had been under pressure in recent months over concern that consumer demand for the iPhone was sagging. Apple sold 52.2 million iPhones in the first quarter, up from 51 million during the same period a year earlier. That level fell just short of Wall Street’s expectations. The iPhone contributed $38 billion of the company’s $61.14 billion in total revenue.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 222.01 | -0.90 | -0.40% |
Berkshire Hathaway purchased the 75 million shares on the open market, Buffett told Claman.
The famed 87-year-old investor is known for his loyalty to the brands that he invests in, such as his affinity for Cola-Cola. Buffett hasn’t become an avid Apple user just yet, joking that the iPhone isn’t the most important form of technology in his own personal life.
“A shareholder sent me an iPhone X,” Buffett told Claman with a laugh. “He sent me a very nice letter with it kind of explaining, like he would to a 2-year-old, how to do it. And I’ll get to it.”