Major U.S. growth mutual funds have been among the largest sellers of Apple (APPL) shares over the past six months, fueling speculation that the company’s days of supercharged growth have come to an end.
Amid concerns that iPhone sales may be set to drop, the $77.3 billion American Funds Capital World Growth & Income Fund has sold all of its 1.7 million Apple shares since the end of June, according to Lipper data. The $9.3 billion Hartford Capital Appreciation Fund sold 1.4 million shares over the same period, reducing its position by 91%.
The selling of Apple stock by growth-oriented managers, who seek higher returns from fast-expanding companies, pushes Apple further toward being a so-called value stock—more appealing for its balance sheet or cash than its growth prospects.
Investors see Wall Street’s expectations of fewer phone sales this year as a reflection of a maturing U.S. smartphone market and the economic slowdown in China, where Apple has been deriving most of its growth.
They were jolted when Taiwan-based iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co—commonly known as Foxconn—said its revenue fell by a fifth in December, one sign that iPhone demand could be slowing.
The massive manufacturer also plans to cut worker hours over China’s week-long Lunar New Year holiday in February, a period when it previously had often paid overtime, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Wall Street analysts expect Apple to grow revenue by just 4 to 7% in the current fiscal year ending next September—down from 28% the year before, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The slowdown concerns have helped to drive Apple’s shares down almost 29% to $95.98 late on Friday morning, from last April’s peak of $134.54.
“The upside from the phone segment, which is what has carried them for several years, is becoming more limited,” said Tony Arsta, a co-portfolio manager of the growth-oriented Motley Fool Great America Fund, which sold all of its Apple shares—2% of its assets—over the past six months. “They were able to juice it by introducing a bigger screen, but all the easy decisions have played out.”
Apple did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
Value Stocks and Activist Investors
The transition of Apple to more of a value than a growth investment is underway at funds giant Fidelity.
Its growth-oriented Fidelity Capital Appreciation fund has sold all of its 2.48 million Apple shares since June, according to Lipper data. At the same time, the value-oriented Fidelity Series Equity-Income fund bought 1.05 million shares after having no previous stake, and making it one of the ten largest buyers in the second half of last year.
The Fidelity, American Fund Capital, and Hartford Capital growth funds were among the 10 largest sellers of Apple over the last six months of 2015. Fidelity did not respond to requests for comment and both American Fund and Hartford Capital declined comment.
Value fund managers are more likely to take an activist role, criticizing management and pushing for share buybacks, dividends, or restructuring to deliver shareholder returns because a company is not growing quickly enough to raise its share price, said Todd Rosenbluth, director of mutual fund research at S&P Capital IQ.
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Apple has already seen activists move in. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn wrote a letter to Apple’s board in October 2014 calling the company “dramatically undervalued” and urging a bigger share buyback program and a dividend increase.
The company increased its share buyback program by 50% in April 2015, with plans to buy back $140 billion in stock by March 2017. It also increased its quarterly dividend by 11%, to 52 cents per share.
According to the most recent disclosures recorded by Lipper data, Icahn is the company’s fifth-largest shareholder, with 52.7 million shares worth approximately $5.8 billion.
