Apple Becomes First Company With $3 Trillion Market Cap

US tech powerhouse Apple briefly held a $3 trillion market cap during intraday trading yesterday. For a moment, the company hit a symbolic milestone that no company previously accomplished.

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Apple Became Most Valuable Company With $3 Trillion Market Cap

By hitting $3 trillion, even if just briefly, Apple’s market cap surpassed the combined value of 14 large companies.

Walmart, Disney, Netflix, Nike, Exxon Mobil, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Morgan Stanley, McDonald’s, AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Boeing, IBM, and Ford.

Apple’s stock hit $182.86 a share briefly Monday. This placed the company’s value at $3 trillion. It became the first publicly-traded company to reach that milestone.

However, Apple stock closed lower at $182.01. Despite the drop, it still registered a 2.5% gain for the day. 

Symbolic Milestone

While the milestone is mostly a symbolic one, Apple’s investors have plenty to cheer about. Hitting this mark meant that Apple stock tripled in value in less than four years.

The bullish atmosphere surrounding the company means returning to a $3 trillion cap isn’t out of the question. 

Apple managed to generate annual growth across its entire product lines in its 4th quarter earnings. Revenue stood at 29% gains year-over-year.

The iPhone remains the main draw for the company. However, its service business registered a 25.6% growth year-over-year. This segment managed to deliver more than $18 billion in revenue for the 4th quarter. 

Apple Will Remain On The Rise This Year

This year, analysts expect things to remain upbeat for Apple. Morgan Stanley maintained its bullish outlook on the stock. It raised the price target from $164 to $200 and maintained the “Overweight” rating it assigned.

The firm noted that Apple has yet to unlock its potential in new products like augmented reality and virtual reality headsets.

In fact, Morgan Stanley expects Apple to surpass the firm’s forecasts for the quarter. MS is now looking at Apple to ship 83 million units, instead of their earlier forecast of 80 million. 

Other investment firms are equally bullish on Apple. TFI Asset Management Limited says that other divisions within Apple are also breaking loose.

Over the holidays, Apple sold 27 million pairs of its newest AirPods. This means the product drove 20% year-over-year growth for its wearables department.

Meanwhile, Wedbush said that the best is yet to come. Analyst Daniel Ives said that Apple’s service business alone carries a $1.5 trillion value. This means that there’s plenty of room for the company to go beyond $3 trillion. 

Apple Becomes A Safe Haven Investment

As a result, investors began turning to Apple to park their money. Its strong balance sheet, huge war chest, and active buyback programs mean it’s a safe haven investment.

It’s been this way since 2018. Apple first set the record as the first $1 trillion company last August 2018. Two years later, the company hit the $2 trillion mark despite a raging pandemic. 

With Apple breaking the $3 trillion barriers, other US companies aren’t far behind. Software titan Microsoft is currently holding a $2.5 trillion market cap. Meanwhile, Google and Amazon are both racing to hit the $2 trillion barriers soon.  

Watch the Bloomberg Technology video reporting that Apple makes history as rally results in $3 Trillion market value:

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