CNBC's Jim Cramer threw cold water on the Justice Department's antitrust case against Apple, saying the iPhone maker is still a good stock to buy and own.
"The decision by the Justice Department to go against Apple will end up like any of the myriad analysts who've gone from buy to hold on Apple's stock during my time," he said. "It's creating still one more buying opportunity, because the regulators, they ain't got nothing for you."
Prosecutors on Thursday accused Apple of having a "smartphone monopoly" with the iPhone, alleging the company makes it difficult and expensive for users and developers to leave the Apple ecosystem. The lawsuit claims the tech giant's anticompetitive practices span beyond its smartphone and Apple Watch businesses, naming its advertising, browser, FaceTime and news endeavors.
"And as outlined in our complaint, we allege that Apple has consolidated its monopoly power not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference.
But to Cramer, the DOJ hasn't found any "smoking guns" that implicate Apple as a guilty party. He said this case is different from, for example, the government's antitrust suit against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. The PC maker did control the vast majority of the global market share at one point, Cramer conceded, but asserted the same is not true for Apple.
Cramer maintained that this lawsuit creates a buying opportunity for the stock. By close, Apple shares were down a little over 4%.
"I just got a whole brand spanking new reason to buy Apple, don't trade it," he said. "I know a loser case when I see one, and the United States of America versus Apple is a loser."
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