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The landscape for tech has turned decidedly more bullish after a tough 2022 which saw the Nasdaq Composite tumble over 33% amid aggressive interest rate hikes. Now up 9.7% year-to-date, the Nasdaq is the best-performing major U.S. index this year. But the path of interest rate hikes remains uncertain amid stubbornly high inflation and the continuing strength of the U.S. consumer, while the prospect of a recession persists in the minds of investors. Against this backdrop, tech investor Mark Hawtin believes Apple could be a safer bet within the mega-cap space. “I think the outcome for Apple depends really on the view you take about the macro. I think if the macro remains uncertain, then Apple remains a good stock to hold, because it provides certainty in an uncertain environment. It’s the sort of high-quality, low-growth but reliable name within those big cap stocks,” Hawtin, investment director at GAM Investments, told CNBC Pro Talks on Wednesday. Earlier this month, Apple r eported earnings for the holiday quarter that missed Wall Street expectations on revenue, profit, and sales for many of its lines of business. It marked a rare earnings miss by the tech giant, its first in almost seven years. Apple’s well-documented supply chain disruptions contributed to the miss, with fewer iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Max models available for sale on the back of a Covid-induced shutdown of a key assembly plant in China. Production is, however, now back to levels the company is comfortable with, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. “I think [Apple] will always overcome the supply chain obstacles in the end. It’s a huge company. It has a very dominant position. It’s very powerful in terms of securing its supply chain. So that doesn’t worry me,” Hawtin said. A Berkshire favorite Warren Buffett is also a fan of Apple; the company is the biggest bet among Berkshire Hathaway’s reported holdings. Berkshire bought a further 20.8 million Apple shares worth $3.2 billion last quarter, raising its stake to 5.8%, according to a regulatory filing. The move appears to have paid off for Berkshire, with shares of Apple up about 18% this year. Analysts think the stock could go higher, with about 78% of those covering the stock rating it a “buy” and giving it average upside of around 15%.
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