“Major U.S. growth mutual funds have been among the largest sellers of Apple Inc. shares over the past six months, fueling speculation that the company’s days of supercharged growth have come to an end,” David Randall reports for Reuters.
“Amid concerns that iPhone sales may be set to drop, the $77.3 billion American Funds Capital World Growth & Income Fund has sold all of its 1.7 million Apple shares since the end of June, according to Lipper data,” Randall reports. “The $9.3 billion Hartford Capital Appreciation Fund sold 1.4 million shares over the same period, reducing its position by 91 percent.”
“The selling of Apple stock by growth-oriented managers, who seek higher returns from fast-expanding companies, pushes Apple further toward being a so-called value stock – more appealing for its balance sheet or cash than its growth prospects,” Randall reports. “The transition of Apple to more of a value than a growth investment is underway at funds giant Fidelity. Its growth-oriented Fidelity Capital Appreciation fund has sold all of its 2.48 million Apple shares since June, according to Lipper data. At the same time, the value-oriented Fidelity Series Equity-Income fund bought 1.05 million shares after having no previous stake, and making it one of the ten largest buyers in the second half of last year.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Until Apple’s next big catalyst, it makes perfect sense for growth funds to divest and for value-oriented funds to stock up. We’ll see what Apple says – and, more importantly, what Apple guides – on the 26th.