- Apple could be disrupted by the rise of ChatGPT plugins, according to Ark Invest's Cathie Wood.
- She made the comment as Apple's $2.73 trillion market value eclipses the collective market cap of the Russell 2000.
- The only way to justify Apple's current valuation is if its health care and payments bets succeed, Wood said.
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT could disrupt Apple in such a way that its current $2.73 trillion valuation is unjustified, according to Ark Invest founder Cathie Wood.
In a tweet on Sunday, Wood said that ChatGPT plugins, which are third-party apps built on top of ChatGPT, could dislodge Apple's control on its high-margin app store at a time when its underlying hardware business is "stagnating."
Wood is referring to the slowdown in the iPhone business, which saw sales grow just 1.5% last quarter while representing 54% of Apple's total revenue.
Investors have partially accepted the reality of Apple's slower iPhone sales because the company's higher-margin services business is growing at a faster rate. Apple's Services business includes its App Store, advertising division, and streaming services, among other products.
But that growth and high profit margin could get dislodged by ChatGPT and its large language model.
Apple's "base business is stagnating and its high-margin apps platform could be disintermediated by ChatGPT plugins," Wood said. Apple has been defending its App Store margins in an aggressive way, evidenced by its recent lawsuit with Epic Games.
The comments from Wood come as Apple surpasses the collective market value of the entire Russell 2000. In other words, if you combine the market value of all the 1,917 stocks held in the small-cap index, it comes up a few billion dollars below Apple's current market value.
"Apple is back to being bigger than all ~2,000 small-caps in the Russell 2000," Bespoke Invest said in a tweet on Sunday. Apple previously topped the Russell 2000 on September 1, 2020, according to Bespoke. "The last time it happened, it didn't last long."
But Wood does see one way Apple's current near-$3 trillion market valuation could be justified, and that's if its bets on payments and health care pan out.
"Apple offers big calls options in payments and health care... $AAPL's call options must work in a big way to justify this valuation," Wood said.
Recents moves in the payments space from Apple include the launch of its Apple Card a few years ago, and the launch of a high-yield savings account just last month. The HYSA from Apple attracted nearly $1 billion in deposits in the first four days of its launch.
For health care, Apple has been working to add more and more health monitoring technology into its Apple Watch.