Apple is a notable outlier in Monday's drubbing of mega-cap tech stocks

Every weekday, CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer publishes Homestretch, an actionable afternoon update just in time for the final hour of trading on Wall Street. Stocks fell on Monday as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gave up earlier gains. Real estate, healthcare, industries, utilities and energy are trading in the green space, while communications services and consumer discretionary are lagging behind. It was interesting to see energy stocks rise as consumer discretionary fell despite WTI crude on pace to close below $75 per barrel for the first time since March 4. The technology was complicated. Most of the major hyperscalers were weak on Monday. Amazon shares fell more than 4%, while Microsoft and Meta Platforms fell between 2% and 3%. In his column on Sunday, Jim Cramer discussed some of the challenges facing these mega-major tech companies. Apple was a notable outlier, outperforming its Magnificent Seven peers during the session. We know that Apple's AI strategy looks very different from the rest of the group. Rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year building AI infrastructure, Apple is turning to partnerships with model developers, including Google's Gemini, to deliver new AI features across its lineup of devices. Alphabet was the worst performer among hyperscalers and was one of the biggest challengers in the market, with its shares down nearly 6%. There may be various factors at play. The first concern is about the change of AI researchers. Over the weekend, Google DeepMind data scientist John Jumper said he was leaving the company for Anthropic. The news comes after Gemini co-chairman Noam Shazeer announced last week that he would be joining OpenAI. Two high-profile departures to rival AI labs in less than a week may raise some suspicions, but that's probably just a coincidence. Another topic might be Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal; This interview highlights that Microsoft is not focused on winning the AI race by building a leading model. Instead, the company is more interested in commoditizing its AI models and finding lower-cost alternatives that can perform tasks effectively at a fraction of the price. Microsoft's AI strategy is very different (and far less successful so far) than that of Alphabet, which has poured billions of dollars more into AI infrastructure. One more thing to keep in mind is that Alphabet's previously announced $40 billion stock offering (as part of a larger $84.75 billion capital raise) is expected to launch in the third quarter. The equity raise could weigh on Google shares until it is completed. No significant gains after Monday's closing bell. Carnival reports ahead of the opening bell on Tuesday, when the June S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMIs will be released. (See here for a complete list of stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) When you subscribe 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 trading alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable foundation's portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he would wait 72 hours after issuing the trading alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH THE DISCLAIMERS. NO CIVIL OBLIGATIONS OR DUTIES EXIST OR SHALL BE RESULTING FROM YOUR RECEIVING ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULT OR PROFIT CAN BE GUARANTEED.