Columbia Threadneedle Global Technology Growth Strategy: Apple (AAPL) Faced a Classic Innovator's Dilemma. Here's What

Columbia Threadneedle Investments, an investment management company, released its “Columbia Threadneedle Global Technology Growth Strategy” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The market experienced volatility at the start of the quarter due to heightened uncertainty from global tariffs as part of the new U.S. administration. Later, the market rebounded with the implementation of a more lenient trade policy. The composite returned 25.11% gross of fees and 24.85% net of fees in the quarter, compared to the S&P Global 1200 Information Technology Index’s 23.66% return.  In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings for its best picks for 2025.

In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, Columbia Threadneedle Global Technology Growth Strategy highlighted stocks such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is an American multinational company that designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories. The one-month return of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was 11.67%, and its shares gained 12.63% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 22, 2025, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock closed at $256.08 per share, with a market capitalization of $3.8 trillion.

Columbia Threadneedle Global Technology Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

"Finally, shares of technology bellwether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) underperformed the market and lost value as the company faced a classic innovator’s dilemma, which appeared all the more egregious as competitors embraced the AI opportunity. Apple has had a dominant market position in smartphones and services, but now more than ever, investors are questioning the future outlook for the company. Despite posting a negative absolute strategy return during the quarter, which weighed on absolute strategy returns, relative to Apple’s the company’s large position in the benchmark our underweight position proved to be a tailwind to relative results during the quarter."

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in 8th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 156 hedge fund portfolios held Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of the second quarter, which was 159 in the previous quarter. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported revenue of $94 billion in the June quarter, reflecting a 10% year-over-year increase. While we acknowledge the potential of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and shared the list of stocks buzzing after important analyst calls. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.