Apple is on The Brink of Becoming a $3 Trillion-Dollar Company

Apple is nearing a $3 trillion dollar market capitalisation milestone, so what does it mean to be a company of that size? Jakir Hossein and Lauren Solberg explain more

Lauren Solberg 13 December, 2021 | 2:26PM
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This article originally appeared on our US parent site Morningstar.com and was written by Jakir Hossein and Lauren Solberg

Apple (AAPL) may soon become the first company to reach a stock market valuation of $3 trillion. 

To put the number into context:

  • Three trillion pounds is about equal to the weight of all the apples (fruit, that is) produced in the United States this year--times 300;
  • Three trillion iPhone 13s have enough surface area to cover the U.S. nearly 200 times;
  • Three trillion pennies can bridge the average distance between Earth and Mars 49 times when stacked on top of each other;
  • Three trillion US dollar bills lined up could reach the sun 3 times over;
  • It would take 373,599 years for the average human to breathe 3 trillion times.

Apple's stock has been on an upward climb for the past decade. In August 2012, it became the largest company by market capitalization in both the US and the entire world.

Market cap is the price of a stock multiplied by its total number of shares outstanding. Apple's current price of $177 puts it at a market cap of $2.9 trillion. If its price rises just $9 per share, it will be the first company to ever reach $3 trillion territory. 

However, Apple's stock faces some headwinds, as Morningstar sector strategist Abhinav Davuluri outlines in bull and bear cases for the company here.

But for now, Apple's road to $3 trillion comes as it has far outperformed the rest of the stock market for years. 

Apple is currently the largest company in the world, and it has kept its spot among the five largest US companies for the past 12 years.

In previous years, Apple and the rest of the fast-growing FAANG stocks have made a disproportionately high impact on the rest of the market, though 2021 saw the trend begin to fizzle. And Tesla's (TSLA) market influence has grown as the company's market cap increases.

Comparisons with fruit production and trips to Mars aside, Apple's size is massive even when measured against global stock markets. Apple's current market cap is greater than the market caps of entire countries.

All public companies that operate in Canada, for example, added up to a total market cap of $2.64 trillion as of year-end 2020, $230 billion less than Apple.

China's onshore market is the second-largest stock market in the world--worth nearly $13 trillion. Apple's market cap is worth nearly a fourth of that.

Apple's current market cap is equal to 13.7% of the US' total 2020 gross domestic product.

How Dominant Is Apple Within the U.S. Market? 

Apple makes up almost 21% of all US-domiciled technology companies' total market capitalization. The company's worth is larger than the entire US real estate, energy, utilities, and basic-materials sectors.

Within the Morningstar US Market Index, starting with the smallest of the 1,602 companies in the benchmark, it would take 695 companies combined to rival Apple in size.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar
Rating
Apple Inc242.84 USD-0.08Rating

About Author

Lauren Solberg  is a data journalist at Morningstar

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