Jim Cramer makes the case for why Apple and investors should stick with CEO Tim Cook

CNBC

12 hours ago

Jim Cramer says he's still backing Apple 's Tim Cook despite calls for the CEO to resign. "I really believe in Tim," Jim said at Friday's annual meeting of the CNBC Investing Club from the New York Stock Exchange. "He's made us a lot of money. He gets the benefit of the doubt." Responding to a question from a member who asked whether the Club would consider trimming the stock if Apple cannot turn things around, Jim also addressed the Street's list of concerns about the tech giant, including last Tuesday's announcement that COO Jeff Williams, 62, will retire later this year. Williams was the No. 2 executive at Apple. A day later, LightShed Partners analyst Walter Piecyk called for Apple to replace Cook. Piecyk did credit the 64-year-old CEO for an amazing job navigating the iPhone era, but said Apple now needs a product-focused CEO. Piecyk told CNBC's "Fast Money" last Wednesday evening that the idea of Apple needing new leadership is not new among institutional investors. "It cannot miss out on AI," LightShed wrote in its note to clients. Jim recently advocated for Apple to buy AI start-up Perplexity as a solution to getting back in the game. "They screwed up the AI. Jeff Williams is retiring. Luca Maestri, the great CFO, is gone. The new CFO [Sabih Khan] is young. They're right now lacking innovation. A lot of people feel that Vision Pro [headset] is a bust," Jim said. "There isn't anything that they are doing right, right now, according to people," he acknowledged. But in a show of faith, Jim kept Apple stock as one of the Club portfolio's 12 core holdings , alongside artificial intelligence winners Amazon , Meta Platforms , and newly crowned $4 trillion market cap stock Nvidia . Apple's shares have been feeling the weight of shaky investor confidence, with the stock down nearly 16.5% year to date. Unlike other tech companies following the tariff-driven April lows, Apple has been slower to recover. Currently trading around $209, the stock would have to see an upside move of roughly 19% to get back to its record-high close of $259 on Dec. 26, 2024. AAPL YTD mountain Apple YTD It's undeniable that Apple is up to its eyeballs in problems, with AI being one of those at the forefront of investors' minds. Earlier this year, the company delayed its rollout of an AI-powered conversational Siri, helping fuel naysayers who are upset with its failure to catch up in the AI revolution. To add more flames to the fire, Apple lost a top AI executive , Ruoming Pang, to Meta last week. Furthermore, the company has been a direct target of the Trump administration, which has publicly criticized Cook for a lack of urgency in moving iPhone production back to the U.S. Despite having shifted some production to India, most of Apple's phones are still made in China. But either way, President Donald Trump wants iPhones made in America, which could more than double the price tag of the device. "It is painful to hear people going for [Cook's] head or that it's time for him to change," Jim said, as he questioned whether investors have forgotten the "thousands and thousands of percentages" in profits that the company and Cook have made them. "As long as this [iPhone] is remarkable. As long as this [iPhone] is indispensable, we're going to own the stock," Jim said. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AAPL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.