Buffett Dumps More Apple

"In his last quarter as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway ( NYSE: BRK-B), Warren Buffett remixed his portfolio, as he always does. He cut his position in Amazon ( NASDAQ: AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) and increased his bet on Chevron. He also did something he has done for several quarters. He cut his position in Apple ( NASDAQ: AAPL) sharply, According to Bloomberg, "Also in the fourth quarter, Berkshire continued trimming its stakes in Bank of America Corp. and Apple Inc., bringing them to 7.1% and 1.5%, respectively." He first bought Apple in 2016."

"It is clear that the iPhone continues to carry Apple on its broad shoulders. In the most recent quarter, iPhone sales were 60% of Apple's $144 billion in revenue. And, iPhone revenue was also up 23% year over year. The worry that it did not launch its new operating system late last year or early this year barely seemed to matter. However, anyone who follows Apple can see it has been left out of the race to lead the AI industry. Massive investments are being made by Microsoft ( NASDAQ: MSFT), Alphabet ( NASDAQ: GOOG), OpenAI, and numerous large public and private companies. Many of Apple's lead AI engineers were recruited by competitors."

"Apple's move into AI is to license Google Gemini and integrate it into Siri. Reuters made the point that, "The latest agreement builds on a years-long partnership that makes Google the default search engine on Apple devices - a lucrative arrangement that drives traffic for Google while generating tens of billions in annual revenue for Apple." The Apple decision is the clearest indication yet that it has given up on being a leader in AI."

Warren Buffett rebalanced Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio in his final quarter, cutting Amazon, sharply reducing Apple holdings, increasing Chevron, and trimming Bank of America. Berkshire's Apple stake fell to 1.5% and its Bank of America stake to 7.1%. iPhone sales remain central to Apple, accounting for 60% of $144 billion in revenue, with iPhone revenue up 23% year over year. Apple’s stock rose 8% over the past year versus the S&P 500's 12% and Alphabet’s 62% gain. Apple has lagged in AI leadership, with key AI engineers recruited by rivals, and plans to license Google Gemini for Siri.

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