Even before Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) crushed market expectations with its fiscal second-quarter results, Warren Buffett believed in the stock and went so far as to purchase an astonishing 75mln shares of Apple in the first quarter, according to an exclusive report by CNBC.
Those shares add to the 165.3mln of Apple shares which Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s investment holding company, already owned at the close of 2017.
“It’s an unbelievable company,” Buffett told CNBC. “If you look at Apple, I think it earns almost twice as much as the second most profitable company in the United States.”
Buffett divulged the news about the size of his Apple stake in a CNBC interview, which aired last night and comes ahead of the yearly Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday, which is set to be attended by tens of thousands of Berkshire investors.
READ: Apple announces US$100bn share buyback as 2Q earnings beat estimates on strong services growth
Apple posted revenue of US$61.1bn in the three months ended March 31 – up 16% year-on-year and just ahead of Wall Street forecasts for US$60.8bn.
Reports of weak iPhone sales in the run-up to the earnings proved to be true, with Apple shifting "just" 52.2mln units in the quarter, behind analysts’ already-lowered estimates of 52.5mln.
But the higher prices of the new iPhone X and 8 more than offset the lower volumes, with total iPhone sales climbing to US$38.0bn.
The company – which has a cash pile in excess of US$300bn – also unveiled a US$100bn share repurchase program and hiked its quarterly dividend by 16% to US$0.73 a share.
Class A shares in Berkshire Hathaway were flat at 287,051 in pre-market trade while Apple shares inched up 1.28% at US$179.21.