Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) delivered another strong quarterly earnings report, beating Wall Street expectations on both revenue and profit.
The company posted its best March quarter ever, with fiscal second-quarter revenue of $111.2 billion, up 17% year on year, and earnings per share of $2.01, up 22%.
iPhone revenue hit a March-quarter record, Services reached a new all-time high, and management even backed that up with a fresh $100 billion buyback authorization.
Yet the stock has not looked like a breakout story so much as a stock that is already doing a lot of the work for itself.
At around $298.87 a share, with a forward P/E above 36, Apple stock still seems rich.
Apple stock: Small but real exits
This is not a stampede out of Apple as large holders are trimming rather than embracing.
Berkshire Hathaway reduced its Apple stake by about 15%, lowering its position to 238.2 million shares from 280 million in the prior quarter, even as Apple remained Berkshire’s largest equity holding.
Berkshire has been whittling down Apple and building a record cash pile, which is exactly the kind of signal long-only investors tend to watch closely.
The analyst side looks similar as Raymond James resumed coverage in January with a Market Perform rating, a downgrade from Outperform, while Barclays kept an Underweight call after the latest results.
That is not a bearish call, but it is a clear sign that the easy-money bull case has thinned out.
The market is still giving Apple credit for execution, but is less willing to pay up for it without a bigger catalyst.
Slowing hardware and unproven AI
The latest quarter was strong, but it also exposed the parts of Apple’s story that still need work.
iPhone revenue came in at $57 billion, slightly below estimates, and Tim Cook said supply constraints limited sales even as demand was “off the charts.”
That is a good problem to have, but it also shows how much of Apple’s near-term growth still depends on hardware cycles and execution around the supply chain.
The bigger question is AI as Apple is not spending tens of billions of dollars per quarter on AI the way Microsoft and others are.
Breakingviews pointed out that Apple’s capital spending has barely moved since ChatGPT arrived, while rivals doubled their investments.
That makes Apple look disciplined to some investors and too cautious to others.
It is also why Eddy Cue’s remark that you “may not need an iPhone 10 years from now” still hangs over the stock.
Barclays’ caution fits that frame.
The bank cited uncertainty around the durability of iPhone strength, Services valuation and regulatory risks, while Apple itself warned that memory costs will pressure margins more in the June quarter and beyond.
The bulls are not gone, but their math is tight
This is still a stock with plenty of believers.
Goldman Sachs kept a Buy rating and lifted its target to $340. Morgan Stanley raised its target to $330 after earnings.
Wedbush is even more aggressive, with a Street-high $400 target.
But the math is getting harder as MarketBeat pegs Apple’s average analyst target at $305.74, while MarketWatch shows an average target of $310.12.
At current levels, that leaves only low-single-digit upside, roughly 2% to 4%, depending on which consensus snapshot you use.
The post Apple stock: is smart money quietly walking away from AAPL? appeared first on Invezz