Tech giant Apple, which became the first US company to reach a market capitalisation of US$1 trillion in August 2018, and $2 trillion in August 2020, has became the first company to reach a valuation of US$3 trillion on Monday, January 3, 2022.
Apple’s shares prices needed to cross US$182.85 for the magic landmark, and it went up 3% for a brief while to a new all-time high of US$182.88 around 18:45 GMT. The stock finished the day on $182. Shares of Apple returned 35% in 2021, outpacing the S&P 500’s return of about 27%.
Software behemoth Microsoft, which hit the US$2 trillion mark in June 2021, is the second most valued company on Wall Street.
On November 10 last year, Google’s parent company Alphabet became the third company to cross the US$2 trillion mark.
CNBC reported that Apple showed annual growth across all of its product categories in its fourth-quarter earnings, with revenue up 29% year-over-year. While the iPhone is still the biggest sales driver, Apple’s services business grew 25.6% year-over-year and delivered more than US$18 billion in revenue during the quarter.
Over the past two years, strong demand for iPhone 12 and 13 models has driven record revenue and profits. Trailing 12-month revenues hit US$365 million as of September 30, for year-over-year growth of 33%.
While Apple said its iPhone production is expected to take a hit this year amidst short supply of chips, it also announced some major innovations in 2021, including the launch of its powerful M1 Pro and M1 Max chips for its MacBook Pro laptops. Those chips allow Apple to ditch Intel’s own processors, giving Apple far more control over design and performance.
A Reuters report said Apple’s shares have climbed around 5,800% since co-founder and former chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in January 2007, far outpacing the S&P 500’s (.SPX) gain of about 230% during the same period.