Apple shares are up more than 10% in the last month, but contrarian investor Bert Dohmen says one has to be “deaf, dumb and blind” to buy shares of the Cupertino-based giant. On Monday, Dohmen told CNBC’s Closing Bell that he would not touch the stock with a 10-foot pole.
Contrasting views on Apple stock
Dohmen told Closing Bell that for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), every quarter has been worse than the one before since its revenue peaked in late 2014. Dohmen, founder and president of Dohmen Capital Research, said the “deterioration is accelerating,” adding, “You’ve got to be deaf, dumb and blind to buy this.”
Meanwhile, Gene Munster, an analyst from Piper Jaffray, is bullish on Apple’s prospects and thinks that in the near term, its iPhone cycle will boost its shares. Munster has a $151 price target on the stock, which is about 40% upside. The popular analyst predicts that revenue will be up 10% in 2017 as a plethora of iPhone users upgrade their iPhones.
Munster told CNBC’s Closing Bell that the iPhone maker has had a difficult period, but he believes it has nothing to do with its core strength of releasing great devices. Munster says the tech giant is going to continue on that path for the next five years.
Buffett looks beyond phones
On Monday, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it had increased its stake in the smartphone giant by 55%. Now Buffett owns a little more than 15 million shares of the Cupertino-based iPhone maker.
While investors are concentrating on the iPhone and the potential for a super cycle next year, Munster thinks Berkshire Hathaway is looking even further towards the possibilities in automotive [the long-rumored Apple car] and augmented reality. This gives some optimism to investors that this is not just a one-year trade; rather, Apple could get into some big growth markets in the future.
In contrast, Dohmen feels all Apple has been doing is investing its own money and paying dividends and buying back its stock using borrowed money.
“This is not innovation. It’s financial engineering,” the analyst said.
For Apple, 2016 has been pretty average, but after its last earnings report, it has rebounded and is now doing better than the S&P 500. According to CNBC’s Kelly Evans, in the past month, the tech giant has outperformed the market, gaining 11.01% in comparison to the S&P 500’s 1.31% gain for the same period.
On Monday, Apple shares closed up 1.2% at $109.48.
