Apple had an ugly week. Why it’s worth buying, investor Tengler says
Apple’s terrible week could be a buying opportunity for investors, according to Nancy Tengler, chief executive officer and chief investment officer at Laffer Tengler Investments. Tengler, an investor known for her “old economy” stock plays, appeared on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Friday to give her hot takes on some of the market’s biggest movers. Here is what she had to say during “Three-Stock Lunch.” Apple The tech giant had a horrible week, off nearly 11% in the period despite Friday’s relief bounce. Still, Tengler views the stock’s recent performance as an opportunity for investors who are in it for the long haul. The iPhone maker’s weekly decline brought its year-to-date loss to nearly 15%. About a week ago Apple delayed artificial intelligence improvements to its Siri voice assistant until 2026. Those changes were supposed to take effect this spring. “I think you can buy it in here,” Tengler said. “There have been two great times to buy this stock. The Apple Maps debacle, the stock’s up 1,100% since then, and the earnings warning in January of 2019, stocks up 550% [since then]. So you can step into this name when it disappoints the market.” Apple shares are still up more than 23% over the past 12 months. Starbucks According to Tengler, Starbucks is a “Brian Niccol story” that’s already proving itself. The stock is up 28% since Niccol took over as the company’s CEO in early September, Tengler said, adding that Starbucks should save costs since the CEO, who came over from Chitpotle, has moved quickly to remove discounts and simplify the coffee chain’s menu. He’s also cut corporate roles at headquarters as part of the company’s turnaround strategy. “You’re getting paid to wait,” Tengler said. “You’re getting a 9% dividend growth over the last five years, and earnings growth is expected to accelerate. So I think this is when you can even buy here, and certainly with the recent pullback, and then you plan to hold it for quite some time.” Starbucks shares are down almost 13% in the past month, underperforming the broader market, but still ahead 7.4% so far in 2025, significantly outperforming the S & P 500. Adobe By contrast to the other two, Adobe is a “value trap,” according to Tengler. Adobe’s stock price lost more than 12% this week following the company’s latest quarterly financial report which, while beating estimates, nonetheless drove investors to question Adobe’s strategy to make money on its artificial intelligence strategy. “This company has continued to disappoint. Management’s been evasive. They do have an investor day next week, so I wouldn’t do anything in front of that. And they do have pricing power — they haven’t raised prices for many years,” Tengler said. “So there are some potential catalysts, but they’re just not delivering and they are not charging for AI because they don’t think they are adding enough value yet.” Adobe shares are down 11% this year, and almost 31% over the past year.
