Jim Cramer Says 'Apple Buyback Is Not Working Right Now,' Michael Saylor Quips Tim Cook's Company 'Should Buy Bitcoin'

Apple Inc. AAPL is under scrutiny as CNBC’s “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer declared that the tech giant’s stock buyback program “is not working right now.”

What Happened: The $3 trillion company, known for its iPhones and MacBooks, has poured billions into repurchasing shares. During its second quarter earnings, the company also said its board authorized an additional share repurchase program of up to $100 billion.

Yet, Cramer argues it’s failing to boost the stock. In a swift rebuttal, Strategy Inc. MSTR, erstwhile MicroStrategy, CEO Michael Saylor quipped that the iPhone maker should consider Bitcoin BTC/USD, “Apple should buy Bitcoin,” he replied.

Cramer’s critique suggests Apple could either let its cash earn interest or integrate it differently, calling the buyback’s ineffectiveness “not a badge of dishonor.”

Meanwhile, Cramer suggested bolder moves for Apple’s capital in an earlier X post.

“I have to be critical and say they should buy Perplexity,” he said.

The recommendation is influenced by the U.S. government’s antitrust ruling against Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL Google, expected by August 2025, which may force Google to end default search deals with Apple’s Safari browser.

This will create an opportunity for Apple to integrate Perplexity’s conversational AI to compete in the evolving search market.

See Also: Michael Saylor’s MSTR Could Be ‘Hit Hard’ If BTC Tumbles: Strategy Is ‘High-Stakes And Risky Now, But So Far, It’s Working,’ Says Analyst

Why It Matters: Tech giant Apple spent the most on stock buybacks in 2024. For the full fiscal year 2024, it spent just over $100 billion on share repurchases. However, as per the calendar year 2024, the company reported just under $78 billion spent on buybacks.

Shares of Apple were up 0.015% in premarket on Wednesday after ending 0.61% higher on Tuesday. It fell by -16.89% on a year-to-date basis and 2.16% over the past year.

Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings shows that Apple had a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long term. Its momentum ranking was poor, and its value ranking was also bad at the 9.02th percentile. The details of other metrics are available here.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were slightly lower in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was down 0.16% at $602.11, while the QQQ declined 0.17% to $533.28, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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