Warren Buffett’s conglomerate has extended its stake in Apple — and gotten rid of almost its entire IBM stake — a big move for a eminent investor who rarely bets on tech.
Berkshire Hathaway revealed Wednesday that it gained its Apple holdings by 23.3 percent to 165.3 million shares, conforming to SEC filings, and dumped about 94.5 percent of its IBM holdings, leaving just now 2.05 million shares.
Last year, Buffett told CNBC that he was numberless sure about Apple’s future than IBM’s, and that he has continued to put his rhino where his mouth is (even if he still carries a flip phone).
In November, Berkshire reported that it cut its IBM jeopardize by 32 percent, and upped its Apple stake. Before Wednesday’s confession, Berkshire was already the fourth-largest Apple shareholder, according to FactSet.
“IBM is a big difficult company, but they’ve got big strong competitors too,” Buffett told CNBC last year.
Calm, Berkshire’s latest announcement comes at an interesting time for both Apple and IBM.
Contend withs in the 1980s, IBM and Apple have taken very different paths once again the years: IBM has struggled with trends in enterprise technology, while Apple has grow a dominant force in consumer electronics.
But Big Blue revenue grew in January for the gold medal time in 23 quarters, perhaps a sign that the company’s rely to analytics, cloud, mobile and security has taken hold. Wall Street-darling Apple, for now, has faced an unusual level of criticism, amid product issues equivalent to production delays, security patches and battery replacements.