Tech giant Apple has made headlines this week after announcing artificial intelligence, but one market observer is unimpressed. Paul Meeks, co-chief investment officer of Harvest Portfolio Management, said on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” program on Tuesday: “I don’t like Apple.” He also admitted that many people disagree with him. The iPhone, MacBook and wearables maker this week announced a slew of new AI features, including sweeping improvements to its voice assistant Siri, integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and a range of writing aids. Apple’s stock price reacted positively to the news, surging 7% on Tuesday to close at a record high. The tech giant’s shares are up more than 10% this year and 16% over the past 12 months. However, Apple shares have surged so far this year, and Meeks maintained his bearish stance on Apple. “Wall Street analysts who saw the demo … said this is a game changer. It will accelerate iPhone sales. I will believe it when I see it,” he said. “As of now, I think we’re definitely not going to have an upgrade cycle, but the bulls are relying on an extraordinary upgrade cycle, the iPhone supercycle.” Not everyone is negative on the stock, however. FactSet data shows that 31 of the 48 analysts covering the stock have given the stock a buy or overweight rating, but the average target price is $204.89, with a potential downside of approximately 3.8%. Shrinking revenue According to Meeks, one of the reasons for his skepticism is Apple’s shrinking revenue. “The last time they had double-digit quarterly revenue was the December quarter of 2021,” he said. “This is a technology company that was supposed to be growing, but it hasn’t really grown in two or three years. So it’s their responsibility to find a Growth Accelerator, because this company never makes acquisitions, so they always have to use their own resources to grow.” In Meeks’ view, Apple’s latest announcements were expected, with most of the moves aimed at “catching up with some of the other suppliers it competes with.” “I think without large-scale acquisitions they will continue to struggle,” he added.
