Jim Cramer Having Second Thoughts on His 'Own, Don't Trade' Apple (AAPL) Mantra

We recently published a list of Top 10 Buzzing Stocks You Should Watch Today. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). stands against other top buzzing stocks you should watch today.

Jim Cramer in a recent program on CNBC expressed surprise that the Republican administration could be this damaging to shareholders

“These are hideous depressing days for the bulls. I’m not used to seeing a White House that doesn’t seem to care that it’s causing the decline. It’s dazzlingly counterintuitive to see a Republican in particular be so callous toward the shareholder class. After all historically that constituency has been very pro-Republican. It’s a total blast zone out there and ground zero is tech.”

Cramer said that the tech selloff forced him to revisit his age-old mantra of “own it, don’t trade it” regarding two major technology stocks.

READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In.

For this article, we picked 10 stocks Wall Street analysts are paying close attention to. With each company, we have mentioned its latest hedge fund sentiment. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 158

Scott Wapner, CNBC’s Halftime Report host, said in a latest program that he was informed that Jim Cramer is having second thoughts about his age-old manta of ‘own, don’t trade’ Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).

“When I sat down on this desk moments before our program, our senior producer sent me a note that Jim Cramer has just put out that says, quote, I’m wavering on quote unquote own don’t trade Apple. That it’s now harder to defend Apple stock in the trade war.That’s significant coming from somebody like Jim, who has made the case for literally as long as I can remember. And I have these words in my head, own don’t trade Apple, because he says it so often. But this, this is different. The game’s different. The goalpost have moved,” Wapner said before asking a question to an analyst about the iPhone maker.”

Many analysts believe that just a few AI apps would not be enough to trigger a broader upgrade cycle for iPhone. Apple is dealing with currency headwinds as the stronger US dollar is expected to reduce top-line growth by 2.5% next quarter. For Q2 FY2025, management expects overall revenue to grow in the low to mid-single digits. Apple’s stock is trading at a premium valuation, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 39-40x, a price-to-free-cash-flow ratio of 33-34x, and a PEG ratio exceeding 3x. Upcoming quarters would be difficult for Apple and its current valuation is not justified.

Columbia Seligman Global Technology Fund stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“The fund maintained a position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) throughout the quarter through the release of the company’s new iPhone 16 in September. Company leaders were excited about the release of the new model, as this is the first model that will feature enhanced AI capabilities through the Apple Intelligence features. Sales for the first few weeks in October and November trailed behind year over year sales from the iPhone 15, as availability of Apple Intelligence was not compatible with all iPhone models. Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI that has allowed the integration of ChatGPT into the Apple ecosystem, separate from the core Apple Intelligence features. This partnership highlights continued progress from Apple to introduce AI capabilities into its products and we expect the iPhone 17 to have even more expansive AI capabilities, increasing potential demand for the new model that is on track to be released in 2025.”

Overall, AAPL ranks 1st on our list of top buzzing stocks you should watch today. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AAPL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

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