Apple Incorporation: First company to hit USD 3 trillion market capitalisation!

Apple Inc achieved a significant milestone of becoming the first company to surpass a market capitalization of USD 3 trillion, highlighting the significant dominance of major technology companies in the equity markets.

On June 30, Apple’s stock rose by 2.3%, contributing to a remarkable rally that has increased its market value by over USD 983 billion this year. This achievement puts Apple ahead by nearly half a trillion dollars compared to the next-largest company. The remarkable rise of Apple has played a pivotal role in driving the Nasdaq 100 Index to its best-ever performance in the first half of the year. This surge in the stocks has fuelled a broader stock market rally, underscoring the unyielding dominance of these tech giants.

The iPhone maker briefly rose above the USD 3 trillion level in early 2022. However, it was unable to sustain this level and subsequently entered a downward trend. Companies of such immense size are rare, particularly in the United States, where only a select group of mega-cap technology and internet stocks, including Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and chipmaker NVidia Corp., belong. Furthermore, NVidia Corp. achieved the distinction of becoming the first trillion-dollar chipmaker this year. Apart from these companies, Microsoft is the only US stock that boasts a valuation surpassing USD 2 trillion mark.

Back in 2011, Apple emerged as the top-ranked company in terms of market value when its market capitalization was below USD 340 billion, accounting for roughly 3.3% of the S&P 500. Since then, Apple has consistently maintained its position as one of the most valuable stocks in the world. In mid-2018, it reached the remarkable milestone of a USD 1 trillion valuation, and in August 2020, it became the first US company to surpass the USD 2 trillion mark. However, it’s important to note that Saudi Aramco was the first company overall to achieve a USD 2 trillion market capitalisation.

As per the above data, the shares of NVidia Corp. have generated a magnificent return of 189% in the last one year whereas Apple Inc. has generated 49%. If we compare the stock returns of Apple Inc. with Nasdaq 100 Index returns, then Apple has generated a return of 49% in the last one year whereas Nasdaq 100 Index has generated a return of 39%.

Currently, the stock is trading at approximately 28.75 times its forward earnings. Although this is a decrease from the peak of over 35 times in 2020, it still exceeds the 10-year average multiple of 17.9 timers by a significant margin.

The current market capitalisation of the company is USD 3.051 Trillion. Its 52-week highs and lows are USD 194.48 and USD 124.17. The stock has given a return of approximately 18% in the last three months. Furthermore, it has generated an impressive return of over 49% in the last one year.