It really depends on what kind of investor you are, so there is no right answer
AAPL is incredibly volatile, so you can easily lose those paper gains you had made.
The 5% AT&T is a good place to park money temporarily if you were trying to accrue dividends while you strategize on a time to buy.
Many people who don’t do options do both where you park in high yield index funds then pull out when you feel it’s the right time to buy a stock like AAPL. It’s a win win to always be moving real gains around and not hold on paper money aka unrealized gains.
That's what Cramer says - he asks "what kind of investor are you?" Young person, retiree etc etc. I'd say - AAPL is for ALL investors. Who doesn't want the best stock?
I like Cramer - but he puts emphasis on basic stuff. Risk matters - Apple is low risk - even with it's high volatility. It's a very weird stock.
I also think "diversification" is a bit of a farce in general.
Diversification is for people who don't know a good thing when they see it, or it's not their area of interest or expertise.
Warren Buffet says he will tell his wife to by an index fund when he is gone - because she doesn't know anything. Otherwise diversification is for amateurs. Warren Buffet would be done better in the last 20 years if he held ONLY AAPL stock - but he didn't understand the company until recently. so he is forgiven.
With the volatility of Apple in the short term, you might take a hit when you invest - but only for the short term. Long term looks great for AAPL stock. Why try to beat that with a phone company that has done zero for the last 10 years? Seriously - Why?
Would you stick your money into ATT and count your measly 5% dividend through the year? Meanwhile wouldn't you be stressing over whether the stock drops more than 5%? Better than cash? Perhaps. Holding ATT might be better than holding cash - but not by much.
The no brainer investment for a long long time has been AAPL. For people who failed to recognize that Apple was undervalued 5 years ago or 10 years ago or today - is there any way you open your eyes on this matter? Is there really anything to say about ATT stock that you believe is worth sharing in comparison to AAPL? I looked at it, and I scoff at the idea of ATT stock.
Put it this way - when the PE on AAPL was 9 and you failed to recognize that it was way out compared to the rest of it's peers - what do you say now about it? Most people can't discern what is a good thing unfortunately.
We all saw Forest Gump make a fortune on AAPL stock "that fruit company" - but if you did not have an inkling to invest then either, well that's too bad. If you bought AAPL when Forest Gump movie was released, you'd also beat Warren Buffets performance probably - and for righteous reasons.