After Wednesday local time, multiple institutions released their Q4 2023 US stock holdings reports (13F).
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stake in Apple by 10 million shares in the fourth quarter of last year, with a market value of approximately $1.822 billion (approximately RMB 13.1 billion) based on the average stock price during that period. However, Apple remains the largest holdings, accounting for 50.19% of disclosed assets.
Since the end of last year, Apple has encountered a series of "bearish" situations, first being downgraded by institutions, and then being announced as the latest short selling target by some institutions. In addition, although the overall performance in the fourth quarter of last year exceeded expectations, there was a significant decline in revenue in the Greater China region; The launch date of Apple cars, which have been "built" for 10 years, has been rumored to be postponed from the original 2026 to 2028, and the level of autonomous driving has been lowered from the original L4 level (highly autonomous driving) to L2+level (partially autonomous driving, with more complete functions than L2 level); The heavyweight new Apple Vision Pro seems to have also experienced a "crash"
Under various negative conditions, Apple's stock price has not continued to rise like other technology companies, but has fluctuated and fallen since the end of last year, giving up its position as the world's largest market value. Last May, Buffett also stated at Berkshire's shareholder meeting that selling a portion of Apple two years ago (2020) was a wrong decision. What signals does Berkshire's reduction of its holdings in Apple reveal, only about six months after the stock god believes it has made a mistake?
In addition to Berkshire, a well-known hedge fund, Bridgewater, has also released its 13F file for the fourth quarter of 2023, which shows that it has continued to increase its holdings of 220000 Nvidia shares in the fourth quarter since rebuilding its position in Nvidia in the third quarter of last year. The latest stock price shows that Nvidia's total market value has surpassed Google, becoming the third highest company in the United States by market value.
Buffett's reduction of holdings in Apple was previously described as "foolish"
According to the 2023 Q4 13F file released by Berkshire Hathaway, a subsidiary of Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway reduced his holdings of 10 million shares in Apple and increased his holdings of 16 million shares in Chevron. However, Apple remains the largest holdings, accounting for 50.19% of disclosed assets. As of the end of the fourth quarter of last year, the total holdings of the fund were $347 billion, an increase of $34 billion compared to the previous quarter.
It is worth mentioning that Buffett has claimed more than once that selling Apple was wrong.
Buffett stated at Berkshire's shareholder meeting on the early morning of May 3, 2023 that he made some mistakes two years ago by selling some Apple stocks, and that "that decision was very foolish at the time.". Public information shows that in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, Berkshire increased its holdings in Apple.
Regarding the sale of Apple in 2020, Buffett also stated at the shareholder meeting held in 2021 that selling a small portion of Apple's stock was a wrong decision. "We had the opportunity to buy, but I sold some stocks last year... this could be a mistake." Buffett also said that Apple stocks are very good and affordable. "I don't think Apple's valuation is crazy, and valuation needs to be compared to interest rates."
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Berkshire reduced its holdings of Apple shares by 3.7% to approximately 944 million shares.
Only about half a year after announcing in May last year that selling Apple stocks was "foolish," Berkshire's move to reduce its holdings in Apple in the fourth quarter has attracted attention. Media analysis suggests that the recent reduction in Apple holdings may be due to excessive positions. According to 13F data, Apple remains Berkshire's largest holdings, accounting for 50.19% of disclosed assets.
In addition to reducing its holdings in Apple, Berkshire has reduced Paramount Global's holdings by 32%, holding approximately 63.3 million shares as of the end of December; HP's shareholding has been reduced by approximately 77%, leaving only 22.8 million shares. In addition, stocks of home furnishings builder DR Horton, insurance company Globe Life, insurance and investment company Markel, and Brazilian credit card processing company StoneCo were cleared.
At the same time, Berkshire increased its holdings in Chevron, Western Oil, Sirius XM, and others.
In addition, Berkshire has also obtained permission from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the second consecutive quarter to temporarily keep one or more of its holdings confidential; When the company makes large-scale investments, it will submit such applications to the SEC because it does not want other investors to flock to buy before completing the purchase. Public information shows that the last time Berkshire made a classified purchase was when they purchased Chevron and Verizon in 2020.
Apple's "bearish" situation continues to yield the top spot in market value
Since the end of last year, Apple has been experiencing continuous negative news.
Firstly, it was downgraded by institutions. On January 2nd local time, Barclays downgraded Apple's stock rating from holding to low allocation, marking the first time the bank has downgraded Apple to this level in 2019. Meanwhile, lower Apple's target price to $160. On January 4th, Harsh Kumar, the chief analyst of the well-known US investment bank Piper Sandler, downgraded Apple's rating from over matched to neutral in a report. It believes that a weak macro environment will suppress demand for iPhones. On January 10th, Redburn Atlantic analyst James Cordwell also downgraded Apple's rating from buy to neutral, stating that the iPhone will resume growth in 2024.
Subsequently, Apple was hit by an airstrike by Wall Street institutions. On January 12th local time, investment research firm Hedgeye announced that it has listed Apple as its latest short selling target. Hedgeye predicts that Apple's revenue growth will be lackluster until 2025, as iPhone sales are weak, innovation is lacking, and Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities intensify competition in the personal computer (PC) market.
In terms of performance, on February 1st local time, Apple released its financial report for the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year, showing a revenue of $119.58 billion for the fourth quarter of 2023, exceeding analyst expectations. However, the financial report shows that sales of Apple products have weakened in China. In the first quarter, Apple's revenue in Greater China was $20.82 billion, far lower than analysts' expectations, a year-on-year decrease of 12.9% from $23.9 billion in the same period last year.
And Apple's heavyweight new product, Apple Vision Pro, seems to have also suffered a "crash". It is reported that the Apple Vision Pro, with a starting price of up to $3499 (approximately RMB 25000), has been on sale in the beauty industry for less than two weeks. Google search trends show that the search volume for "Apple Vision Pro returns" has surged. According to Phoenix Technology, on February 14th Beijing time, Apple Vision Pro has started receiving returns from users one after another.
In addition, some media sources have quoted informed sources as saying that Apple has postponed the launch of the car from the original 2026 to 2028, and lowered the level of autonomous driving from the original L4 level (highly autonomous driving) to L2+level (partially autonomous driving, with more complete functions than L2 level). Apple has not yet publicly responded to this news.
Since the end of last year, Apple's stock price has fluctuated and fallen, with a total market value of $2.84 trillion as of the latest report of $184.15. It has been surpassed by Microsoft, whose stock price continues to rise, giving up the world's top market value.
Bridgewater Jiacang Lilly, NVIDIA
On Wednesday local time, well-known hedge fund Jinqiao Shui submitted its US stock holdings report (13F) as of the end of the fourth quarter of last year to the SEC.
According to the document, as of December 31, 2023, Qiaoshui's overall US stock holdings were $17.864 billion, an increase from the previous quarter's $16.545 billion. Qiaoshui increased its holdings by 260 targets in the fourth quarter of last year, added 87 new targets, reduced its holdings by 385 targets, and cleared 85 targets.
Specifically, Bridgewater Fund built a position in the fourth quarter of last year, taking long positions in stocks and ETF assets such as Wells Fargo and Delta Air Lines; Cleared positions in stocks such as Netflix and Microelectronics.
The top five buying stocks of Qiaoshui in the fourth quarter of last year were Lilly, NVIDIA, Brazil ETF iShares, Visa, and Forward Insurance; The top five selling stocks are Pepsi Cola, Procter&Gamble, Coca Cola, SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF and Wal Mart, all of which are among the top ten heavy positions in Bridgewater.
It is worth mentioning that since rebuilding its position in NVIDIA in the third quarter of last year, it continued to increase its holdings of 220000 NVIDIA shares in the fourth quarter, with a holding ratio of 0.74%.
