TSM's 36% revenue growth and AI demand runway through 2030 make it Tepper's strongest bet versus AAPL's stretched 40x P/E. CoreWeave doubled revenue but burned nearly $6B in free cash flow, making its 47% year-to-date rally a compelling exit point. Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Apple didn't make the cut.
Grab the names FREE today. David Tepper's Appaloosa Management disclosed three especially large positions in its second-quarter filing, and at today's prices we see the setups differently across Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) at $305.93, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) at $426.35, and CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) at $105.26, with the risk/reward tilting cautious, constructive, and skeptical respectively. Tepper's trio spans consumer tech, foundry monopoly, and speculative AI infrastructure, and the risk/reward at current levels is very different for each.
Fiscal Q3 revenue hit $109.42 billion, up 16.4% year over year, iPhone jumped to $54.25 billion, and Services set a June-quarter record at $30.74 billion. Tim Cook called it Apple's "strongest June quarter ever", and management is deploying a $100 billion buyback authorization on top of $62.09B already repurchased through nine months. The bear case is stretched valuation and a low-quality tailwind.
Apple trades at a P/E of about 40, gross margin got a roughly 2-point one-time boost from tariff refunds, and Cook warned of a "100-year flood on the memory pricing" that will pressure September margins. Greater China revenue slipped to $18.82B from $20.50B sequentially, and shares are down 6.5% over the past month even as they hold a 31.91% one-year gain that tops the S&P 500's broader advance. Siri AI is the swing factor.
The setup looks range-bound until the memory reset and holiday iPhone data clear the air. TSMC's Q2 was a standout. Revenue rose 36% year over year to $40.20 billion, EPS came in at $4.31 versus $3.89 expected, and gross margin expanded to 67.7%.
Advanced nodes at 7nm and below now account for 77% of wafer revenue, and management guided full-year 2026 growth slightly above 40% in USD while raising capex to $60 billion to $64 billion. CEO Cici Wei said AI demand runs "all the way to probably 2029, 2030". Yes, Q3 gross margin guidance of 65% to 67% reflects 2nm ramp dilution, and Taiwan Strait risk never disappears.
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