The National - Apple hits record $3 trillion valuation

Apple’s market value topped $3 trillion on Friday, anchoring its position as the world's most valuable company.

The Cupertino-based company’s shares jumped 1.77 per cent to $192.94 at 1.15pm New York time. Its market valuation stood at $3.03 trillion.

The company’s stock has surged more than 50 per cent since the start of the year and more than 36 per cent in the past 12 months.

“Last month, Apple’s capitalisation became more valuable than the entire Russell 2000 and it seems like that could widen further,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda for the Americas.

“Apple got a boost after Citi raised their price target to a Street-high price of $240. Apple’s outlook remains solid given their balance sheet and future revenue projects, but these latest gains might be more of a defensive switch for traders who see a US economy that is recession bound.”

The company's latest milestone comes after it announced major new product launches earlier this month, which include its augmented-reality headset Vision Pro.

Vision Pro, which will be available next year, is the company's first major product launch since the Apple Watch in 2015 and is priced from $3,499.

Overall, industry analysts are bullish and see the company as one of the bright spots during a year of turbulence in tech.

“Contrary to the naysayers who have always criticised the company for the lack of its innovative products, the company's recent launches and the recent market cap achievement has proved its critics wrong,”

“The company has kept its overall iPhone business quite resilient despite the past supply chain crisis and the US-China trade war.

"Apple expanding to other demographics, including India, bodes well for the future scope and growth of the company. The company and its key vendors are also looking to diverify their production base out of China.”

The year-on-year growth in the company's key product – the iPhone – is a testament to the market's trust in the brand, said Mr. Vijay Valecha, Chief Investment Officer, Century Financial

The iPhone sales added more than $51.3 billion in overall sales in the last quarter, up 1.5 per cent on a yearly basis.

“We think Apple is still undervalued as it hasn’t played its AI [artificial intelligence] card and behind the scene it is working so hard to bank on that technology,” said Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets.

“In addition, we are not far from Apple’s new iPhone event now [expected in September] which should bring more rail wind for the stock.”

The iPhone maker’s shares had been strengthened by the rapid digital adoption around the globe at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company’s market value touched $2 trillion in August 2020 and briefly passed $3 trillion in January 2022.

But supply chain problems and concerns about a slowing global economy reversed the trend.

In January this year, Apple dropped below $2 trillion for the first time since March 2021

The company posted a quarterly revenue of $94.8 billion, down 3 per cent annually, in three months to April 1. Its net profit dipped 3.4 per cent yearly to $24.1 billion during the period.

In September, during its annual product launch event, Apple launched a series of new products to attract high-spending and budget-conscious consumers through a mix of new offerings.

The new products included the 5G-enabled iPhone 14 series, the Apple Watch 8 Series and new AirPods.

This month, it also launched a 38cm version of its best-selling MacBook Air at its annual developers' conference to strengthen its position in the highly competitive laptop sector.

Apple is not the only company whose share prices have surged in the past few months.

The world’s biggest electric vehicle maker, Tesla, has jumped 136 per cent and Facebook parent Meta has soared nearly 126 per cent since the start of the year.