Apple Inc’s stock market value ended Friday’s trading session at US$3.05 trillion, becoming the first publicly traded company to close a day’s trading session with over US$3 trillion market capitalization.
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Apple’s share price rose by 2.31% on Friday, to close at US$193.97 as it was lifted by signs of improving inflation and best that the iPhone maker will successfully expand into new markets.
Wall Street indexes closed higher on Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting its biggest first-half gain in 40 years as inflation showed signs of cooling.
A U.S Commerce Department report showed the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index advanced 3.8% versus April’s 4.3%. Excluding volatile food and energy, the core PCE index gained 0.3%, down from 0.4% in the previous month.
Apple’s market capitalization had breached the US$3 trillion mark on January 3, 2022, before closing the trading session below the historic mark.
The share price of the California based company has surged 49% so far in 2023 in a rally by several of Wall Street’s most valuable companies.
Optimism about the potential for artificial intelligence also contributed to the rising share price.
Recent gains in Apple’s shares have outpaced analysts’ estimates for the company’s future earnings. It is now trading at over 29 times expected earnings, its highest since January 2022, according to Refinitiv data.
In June, Apple launched its augmented-reality headset in what was seen as its riskiest bet since the introduction of the iPhone.
The stock has climbed about 7% since then, compared to the S&P 500’s 4% rise.
Four other U.S. companies have valuations of more than $1 trillion – Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Nvidia and Microsoft Corp, which follows Apple with a market value of $2.5 trillion.
Shares of Tesla and Meta Platforms Inc have more than doubled this year, while a 190% gain in shares of Nvidia has catapulted the chipmaker into the trillion-dollar club.
On December 12, 1980, Apple went public selling 4.6 million shares at $22 per share ($.10 per share when adjusting for stock splits as of November 30, 2020) and listed on the NASADAQ. It generated over $100 million, which was more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in 1956.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
