Apple officially became the first company in history to hit a $3 trillion market valuation on Monday. The stock briefly hit the historic milestone before ending the trading day slightly below the $3 trillion mark.
Apple's stock surged in value as investors bet on the company to keep its pace in offering consumers high-end products while also exploring new markets such as virtual reality and electric vehicles.
The Cupertino-based company's stock surged to a high of $182.88 per share during the first day of trading this year. This placed Apple's market valuation just above $3 trillion. The stock closed 2.5% up on Monday to $182.01 per share, giving Apple a market valuation of about $2.99 trillion.
Wall Street analysts celebrated the achievement, stating that the company's accomplishment reflects how confident investors are in Apple's ability to generate profits from the sale of its top-dollar products such as its iPhones and MacBooks as well as from its services such as Apple Music and Apple TV.
Apple is currently the world's most valuable company. It previously shared the stage in the highly exclusive $2 trillion market value club with Microsoft, which has a current market valuation of around $2.5 trillion. Right below the two companies is Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, and Saudi Aramco, which all have market valuations of above $1 trillion.
Since co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in January 2007, Apple's stock has risen by around 5,800%. The stock's growth has far outpaced the S&P 500's, which has increased by about 230% during the same time period.
Apple's revenue from services like video streaming and music has risen dramatically under Tim Cook, who took over as CEO after Jobs' death in 2011. In fiscal 2021, Apple's reliance on the iPhone fell to around 52 percent of overall sales from over 60 percent in 2018, reassuring investors who were concerned the firm was relying too much on its top-selling smartphone.
Despite its substantial growth, some investors are concerned that Apple is reaching the limit of how far it can expand its user base and how much money it can extract from each user, with no guarantee that future product categories will be as profitable as the iPhone in the long run.
Apple continues to dominate in China, the world's largest smartphone market, for the second month in a row, topping domestic rivals like Vivo and Xiaomi.
Many investors expect Apple to produce its own vehicle over the next several years, with Tesla becoming the world's most valuable manufacturer as Wall Street invests heavily on electric automobiles.
