It’s been a tumultuous year for tech companies, as investors flee growth stocks in the face of rising interest rates and other headwinds. Apple has fared better in the tech carnage, with a year-to-date loss of 21% — smaller than the overall Nasdaq index, which is down about 30% in the same period. The company’s exposure to China has become an Achilles heel for a stock that has rallied as other big names, like Alphabet and Microsoft, lose support and break new year lows. Apple accounts for 6.5% of the S&P 500 market capitalization. However, the tech giant has been affected by the Covid-19 lockdown in China and protests across the country. The two investors faced off on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday to take a stance in favor of and against buying the stock. Bear case: growth will get ‘tougher’ Jordan Cvetanovski, chief investment officer at Pella Funds Management, believes Apple’s growth “will get harder and harder in the future.” “They depend a lot on consumers continuing to convince themselves that the Apple 14 is more of a must-have than the Apple 13. In fact, the bigger you are — to grow at 7%, 8%,” he said. that — at some point… that will be much more difficult and you will have to rely heavily on price and ask more and more of your consumers to pay. more and more for services. And at some point there will be some obstacles,” he said. Cvetanovski added that as a very large business, “it takes a lot of things to turn the needle.” He admits that it is a company. “great” with steady cash flow and a good alternative to “expensive” consumer goods like Nestle. “It’s definitely something to own at a certain valuation. I think the pricing reflects how secure it is and how it is considered safe. I just think short term, medium term, there are some risks and there may be better alternatives out there,” he said, adding that there are companies that are “somewhat safe like Apple” Apple is a company with “a lot of room for innovation,” said Ross Gerber, CEO of investment management firm Gerber Kawasaki. platform.” “Tesla, I deal with volatility every day. I have to deal with what Elon does every day. And then I own Apple, and it’s like, it’s rock solid,” he said. Gerber said that when assessing the risk-reward of the stock, it still “makes a good place in the portfolio.” investment.” He added that Apple is the “cash flow king” distributing capital “super efficiently” to shareholders. so, then to me, it seems right, it’s not a growing ASML, say 30% but there is a risk,” he said, referring to the Dutch semiconductor firm. , you own these different stocks in your portfolio, but I think Apple perfectly fits that part of your portfolio.” “And that’s why Warren Buffett owns it.” it with a 40% stake in Berkshire Hathaway,” added Gerber. — CNBC’s Patti Domm contributed to this report.