Ca$htag$: AAPL All-Time High Ahead of iPhone Duo, Price Remains Key Headwind

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Well, time now for our Cash Tag Segment for that. Let's bring in our next guest, and that's Andy Swan, co-founder of LikeFolio, with a deep dive into Apple today. So Apple's having a banner year, hit a new all-time high. Andy, you've got fresh sentiment data. Is everybody going to buy this new device that they have, the foldable phone?

Andy Swan (0:19)

I don't know if everybody's going to do it, but I think a lot of people will. And it's good to see Apple back, coming out with some new products, some new ways of making old products, getting some of that Apple mojo back. And when we look at consumer demand for Apple products, it's up 31% year over year on a 90-day moving average. That's a really big move for a company as big as Apple. And it's the first really positive signal we've gotten out of Apple consumer demand for quite a while. It's right in line with the stock price move and tells us that Wall Street's expectations for Apple are supported by consumer demand. The concerning thing for Apple, I think, is that price complaints are absolutely spiking at this point. Consumers, they are squealing about what they are going to pay. So I think Apple has the pricing power and they may be testing the limits of that pricing power now with price complaints up 74%.

And when we dig down deeper into what is driving the demand for Apple products, it's really kind of a new mix. It's something that we haven't seen in a while. It used to be just iPhone, iPhone, AirPods, et cetera. And now we're getting back to the computers because I think these AI technologies have made computers more valuable and more necessary again. And so Mac Mini up 121% in terms of Google searches, Mac Studio Computer up 118%. These are the Vibe Coders. These are the builders that are needing new tools to enable the AI boom that they have inside of their own mind and the company or the product that they want to build. So it's really interesting to see Apple's mix of consumer demand shift back towards the computer side of things.

People are squeamish about the prices, but we think they will continue to pay them because Apple has the best products in the game.

SPEAKER_3 (2:32)

I love this segment, Andy, because I get to open up my Econ 101 book and talk about things like elasticity and diminishing. And I think the ecosystem, let's face it, is solid. And still intact. And there's no cracks in the ecosystem. Matter of fact, if you look at the news today, the home view looks really impressive. It's something that I think will be very popular and compete with Amazon Echo and Google Nest, and things that OpenAI are trying to do. So there's another product in the pipeline coming.

There's nothing negative about this company, except a couple of things you mentioned, like the price and everyone I've read is worried about the valuation of this company as they hit around a 40 PE. The fact that so much good news is being built into this company, there are a lot of analysts that I read are worried about the valuation up here, Andy, but the ecosystem is solid as you know, and it's nice to see a new product. Now, this is Apple Home View, it's not new to the industry, but it's new to Apple and that's what usually happens. It seems like Apple lets someone invent something and then they copy and do a better job of it.

So I think the ecosystem is still solid, Andy, a lot of people worried about the valuation.

Andy Swan (4:03)

I agree the ecosystem could not be more solid, you know, and Apple knows its customer extraordinarily well. They know what the customer wants. I think the home view will be successful.

I'm not sure about the foldout phone. I think that will be successful in certain niches. But you know, you bring up a good point. The stock price is expensive. The goods that they make are expensive. And in both cases, they have willing buyers lining up to buy both the stock and their products. That's a sign of a remarkable company. And that's what Apple is.

They deserve a rich valuation. They deserve high prices for their products because their products genuinely deliver for their customers. And their shares genuinely deliver for their shareholders. So it's a good mix. It's a good place to be for Apple. They're the king of the hill. And it's gonna be very difficult to dethrone them because the ecosystem is so strong, like you mentioned.

SPEAKER_1 (5:09)