Apple's new budget version of its iPhone 17 is a positive for investors

CNBC Finance

4 min read

Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch â an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Markets are off to a volatile start to the week. Despite uncertainty over how long the conflict in the Middle East will persist and the accompanying spike in energy prices that could rekindle inflation concerns, the market's initial pullback was relatively orderly from the get-go. The S & P 500 dropped about 1% shortly after the opening bell, but the index clawed back all its losses and turned positive after President Donald Trump said Operation Epic Fury's four-to-five-week timeline was ahead of schedule. Oil backing off from its session high helped equities recover, too. Apple announced a refreshed low-cost iPhone on Monday as the tech giant kicked off what is expected to be several days of product announcements in the lead-up to its planned March 4 hands-on "experience" for press in London, New York, and Shanghai. The budget device of the iPhone 17 lineup, called the iPhone 17e, starts at $599. That's $200 cheaper than the starting price for a standard model. Preorders for the iPhone 17e begin Wednesday, with in-store availability a week later. Last year's iPhone 16e was the first update to the more affordable line since 2022, replacing the SE. Apple on Monday also announced new iPad Air models that keep the same design and prices but upgrade to an M4 chip from an M3. The company is also expected to unveil new MacBook models and upgrades to other products this week. Adding an updated version of the budget iPhone to the 17 lineup is a positive for the stock because it could bring in even more people into Apple's ecosystem in search of AI capabilities and expose them to the company's high-margin subscription services like Apple Music. The 17s have ushered in a strong upgrade cycle, with iPhone sales overall during the holiday quarter up 23% . Alongside reported results in late January, the company issued a strong current quarter revenue guide. Eaton has named a new No. 2. Former exec David Foster is coming out of retirement to take the CFO job, replacing Olivier Leonetti, who announced his plan to leave the power management company back in November. This should be a smooth transition since Foster spent 29 years at Eaton before retiring in 2022. Foster has a full plate with several major changes underway at Eaton. The $9.5 billion acquisition of Boyd Thermal is expected to close in the second quarter. Eaton plans to separate its slower-growing, lower-margin Mobility business by the end of the first quarter of 2027. The result of these two transactions will make Eaton even more leveraged to the data center end market, key to our investment thesis for the stock. Companies reporting after the closing bell on Monday include Credo Technology Group , MongoDB , and AST SpaceMobile . Before the opening bell on Tuesday, Best Buy , Target , AutoZone , and On Holding will report. There are no major economic data releases on Tuesday. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has discussed a stock on CNBC, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

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Apple's new budget version of its iPhone 17 is a positive for investors

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