Legg Mason’s Bill Miller overweights Apple as M&G’s Smith sells out

Legg Mason Capital Management chairman Bill Miller has increased exposure to Apple in his $1.4bn  Opportunity Trust despite the stock falling out of favour.

Apple’s share price has been falling since it crossed the $700 mark in the latter half of 2012 and dipped below $400 in April.

Miller says he wants to capitalise on Apple’s high dividend yield and highlgihts the company’s core underlying markets of tablets and smartphones are experiencing double-digit growth.

Miller, who believes in a “paradoxical” investment strategy of avoiding popular stocks, says: “You have to do something that most people would regard as excessively risky or excessively weird. And you either have to get lucky or be right about it.”

M&G manager Aled Smith, who runs the £989.2m M&G American fund,has sold the last of his Apple exposure.

Smith says: “Under its new management, Apple is doing things to extract value from customers – things we do not think would have happened under Steve Jobs.”