After the market on Wednesday local time, a number of institutions announced the U.S. stock position report for the fourth quarter of 2023 (13f). Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought 10 million shares of Apple in the fourth quarter of last year, with a market value of about 18 based on the average stock price during the period2.2 billion US dollars (about 13.1 billion yuan). However, Apple is still the largest heavy stock, accounting for 50% of disclosed holdings19%。
Since the end of last year, Apple has suffered a series of "bearishness", first downgraded ** by institutions, and then announced that it was listed as the latest short-selling target. In addition, although the overall performance in the fourth quarter of last year exceeded expectations, the revenue in Greater China fell sharply; The launch of the Apple car, which has been "built" for 10 years, is rumored to be postponed from the original 2026 to 2028, and the autonomous driving level will be lowered from the original L4 (highly automated driving) to L2+ (partial autonomous driving, which is more complete than the L2 level); The blockbuster new Apple Vision Pro also seems to have suffered a "rollover" ......
Under all kinds of "negative news", Apple's stock price has not continued to rise like other technology companies, but has fallen since the end of last year, and has given up the throne of the world's largest market capitalization. In May last year, Buffett also said at Berkshire's shareholder meeting that it was a wrong decision to sell some of Apples two years ago (2020). And it is only about half a year since the stock god thinks that he has "made a mistake", what kind of signal does Berkshire ** Apple reveal?
In addition to Berkshire, Bridgewater, a well-known hedge, also released a 13f document for the fourth quarter of 2023, which shows that since it re-established its position in Nvidia in the third quarter of last year, it continued to increase its holdings of 220,000 shares of Nvidia ** in the fourth quarter. The latest stock price shows that Nvidia's total market capitalization has surpassed Google to become the third most valuable company in the United States.
Warren Buffett Apple has previously called Apple "stupid."
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway released 13F documents for the fourth quarter of 2023 show that Berkshire Hathaway ** Apple has 10 million shares and increased its holdings in Chevron by 16 million shares. However, Apple is still the largest heavy stock, accounting for 50% of disclosed holdings19%。As of the end of the fourth quarter of last year, the total size of the ** position was $347 billion, an increase of $34 billion from the previous quarter.
It is worth mentioning that Buffett has more than once called selling Apple wrong.
Warren Buffett said at Berkshire's shareholder meeting in the early morning of May 3, 2023, that he made some mistakes two years ago and sold some apples**, and that decision was stupid at the time." According to public information, in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, Berkshire has increased its holdings in Apple.
Regarding the move to sell Apple in 2020, Buffett also said at the shareholder meeting held in 2021 that **a small number of apples** was a wrong decision. "We had a chance, but I sold some last year....This could be a mistake. Buffett also said that Apple** is very affordable, "I don't think Apple's valuation is crazy, and the valuation needs to be compared with interest rates." ”
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Berkshire reduced its stake in Apple by 37% to about 94.4 billion shares.
It was only about half a year after the statement that it was "stupid" to sell Apple in May last year, and Berkshire's Apple move in the fourth quarter attracted attention. Some analysts believe that this time**Apple is suspected to be too heavy. 13F data shows that Apple is still Berkshire's largest heavy stock, accounting for 50% of disclosed assets19%。
In addition to Apple, Berkshire cut its stake in Paramount Global by 32% to about 63.3 million shares at the end of December; Reduced HP's stake by about 77% to just 22.8 million shares. In addition, the liquidation of home builder Dr Horton, insurance company Globe Life, insurance and investment company Marcel, and Brazilian credit card processing company Stoneco** was cleared.
At the same time, Berkshire increased its holdings in Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Sirius XM, etc.
In addition, Berkshire also received permission from the U.S. ** Exchange Commission (SEC) for the second consecutive quarter to temporarily keep one or more of its holdings confidential; Such applications are made to the SEC when the company makes a large-scale investment because it does not want to flock other investors before completing the purchase**. According to public information, the last time Berkshire made a secret purchase was in 2020 when it bought Chevron and Verizon.
Apple's "bearishness" continues to give up the first place in market capitalization
Since the end of last year, Apple has been "bearish".
First, it was downgraded by the agency. On January 2, local time, Barclays' report downgraded Apple's ** rating from held to underweight, which is the first time the bank has downgraded Apple's rating since 2019. At the same time, it lowered Apple's price target to $160. On January 4, Harsh Kumar, chief analyst at Piper Sandler, a well-known U.S. investment bank, downgraded Apple's rating from overweight to neutral in a report. It believes that the weak macro environment will dampen the demand for iPhones. On January 10, James Cordwell, an analyst at Redburn Atlantic, also downgraded Apple's rating, downgrading the rating to neutral from **, saying that the iPhone will return to growth in 2024.
Subsequently, Apple was "airborne" by Wall Street institutions. On January 12, local time, Hedgeye, an investment research institution, announced that it would list Apple as its latest short-selling target. Hedgeye expects Apple's revenue growth to be bleak through 2025 amid weak iPhone sales, a lack of innovation, and Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities fueling competition in the PC market.
In terms of performance, on February 1, local time, Apple released its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, showing that Apple's revenue in the first fiscal quarter (fourth quarter of 2023) was 1195$800 million, exceeding analysts' expectations. However, the earnings report showed that sales of Apple products in China were weak. Apple's revenue in Greater China in the first fiscal quarter was 208$200 million, well below analysts' expectations and down 12.2 billion from $23.9 billion a year earlier9%。
And Apple's blockbuster new product, Apple Vision Pro, also seems to have suffered a "rollover". It is reported that the Apple Vision Pro, which has a starting price of up to 3499 US dollars (about 25,000 yuan), has been on sale in the United States for less than two weeks, and Google search trends show that the search volume of "returned Apple Vision Pro" has surged. According to a report by Phoenix.com Technology, on February 14, Beijing time, Apple's Vision Pro has begun to receive returns from users one after another.
In addition, citing sources familiar with the matter, Apple postponed the launch of the car from the original 2026 to 2028, and lowered the level of autonomous driving from the original L4 (highly automated driving) to Level 2+ (partial automatic driving, more complete than the L2 level). Apple has not yet publicly responded to this news.
Since the end of last year, Apple's share price has fallen as of the latest 184$15, total market capitalization 2At $84 trillion, it has been surpassed by Microsoft, whose stock price continues to rise, giving up the first place in the world's market capitalization.
Bridgewater plus Eli Lilly, Nvidia
On Wednesday local time, Bridgewater, a well-known hedge, submitted a report on U.S. stock holdings as of the end of the fourth quarter of last year to the SEC (13F).
According to the documents, as of December 31, 2023, Bridgewater's overall U.S. stock holdings were 178$6.4 billion, up from $16.5 billion in the previous quarterAn increase of $4.5 billion. In the fourth quarter of last year, Bridgewater increased its holdings by a total of 260 targets, with 87 new targets, 385 targets, and 85 targets.
Specifically, Bridgewater** built a long position in Wells Fargo, Delta Air Lines and ETF assets in the fourth quarter of last year; Cleared Netflix, Microchip Technology, etc.**.
Bridgewater's top five stocks in the fourth quarter of last year were Eli Lilly, Nvidia, Brazil ETF-iShares, Visa and Advance Insurance; The top five selling stocks were PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, SPDR S&P 500 ETF and Walmart, all of which ranked among Bridgewater's top 10 heavyweights.
It is worth mentioning that since the re-establishment of Nvidia in the third quarter of last year, it continued to increase its holdings of 220,000 shares of Nvidia** in the fourth quarter, with a position ratio of 074%。
Editor-in-charge: Wan Jianyi.
Proofreader: Yao Yuan.
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