00:00 Speaker A

The Nasdaq is the worst performer among the major averages right now. Two of the hardest hit tech stocks, Apple and Amazon, sinking. Apple on track for its worst day here since 2020 for Apple. Tariffs posing huge hurdles for the future of iPhone production as well as its global supply chain. Joining us now to talk about all this, Tom Forte, managing director and senior consumer internet analyst at Maxon Group. Tom, it is good to see you. Let’s start right there, Tom with Apple. I’m looking here, we’re down almost 10% here, Tom. What do you make of that move? Is that move justified, Tom?

01:03 Tom Forte

Yeah, so I think it is, you know, if you look at the recent performance of Apple stock, it’s rare for it to have that kind of outsized move. I think that investors today have been hyperfocused on tariffs to the extent that, uh, you know, if you’re like Apple and you have a global supply chain, it is going to pose challenges. Uh, and I think though, you know, stepping back, Tim Cook and Elon Musk, I would say, are the two best CEOs at managing ultimately government relations with the United States and China. And I think that the, you know, what President Trump is clearly trying to do is to adjust the trade deficit and bring back manufacturing to the US. So I think the good news for Apple, I guess, and I would say the argument for 10% down being too much is that it does have pricing power. So it may not be able to completely mitigate the impact of tariffs, but it can raise prices. And then historically, uh, it focuses on the higher margin, uh, consumer electronics and generates a ton of free cash flow. And the good news is at some point you would imagine that the Trump tax cuts could become permanent, and then Apple will just buy back more stock. So long-winded way of saying, I think down 10 is too much of a negative reaction today.