“As far as the stock, I think you want to continue to own it long-term,” he said.
Qualcomm, which is one of Apple’s suppliers, was also another stock with potential upside on strong sales of Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
Apple shares closed down 1.62 percent at $420.51.
Contrarian Steve Cortes thought it best to stay on the sidelines.
“I have no position, and it’s going to stay that way,” he said. “To me, Apple is sort of a no-man’s land here. The momentum has been much too strong for me to short the stock, but it is also far too loved for me to get in and buy it.”
Trader Joe Terranova thought it could be time to pull the trigger on buying in the next couple of days — not just in Apple, but in suppliers such as Broadcom and Cirrus Logic, which counts on the iPhone for half of its sales.
Terranova cited one name to avoid, however: Nuance Communications, the company behind the iPhone 4G’s Siri voice-recognition assistant.
“The stock has made its run,” he said. “It’s exhausted.” Retail expert Patty Edwards said she would add to her positions in the event of a pull-back.
“I think this thing will do better than expected,” she said.
Peter Misek, senior technology analyst at Jefferies, said he estimated iPhone 4S sales to top 33 million units and expected guidance to be in line with Wall Street figures. But given Apple conservative approach, that would be strong.
Misek said he expected Apple to launch its much-anticipated iPad 3 in March, and he did not believe the company would announce a dividend – yet.
“That’s unlikely. We’d love to see it,” he said, but added that it could happen eventually. “We think a dividend is certainly a higher probability event this year.”