Apple Races Toward $4 Trillion Market Cap

24/7 Wall St. Insights Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) could be the first public corporation to reach a market cap of $4 trillion. Also: Dividend legends to hold forever. Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) market cap is currently…

Published October 19, 2024, 9:47am ET · 2 min read

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Apple Holds Launch Event For New Products At Its Headquarters
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 07: A view of the new iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are displayed during an Apple special event on September 07, 2022 in Cupertino, California. Apple unveiled the new iPhone 14 as well as new versions of the Apple Watch, including the Apple Watch SE, a low-cost version of the popular timepiece that will start st $249. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) © 2022 Getty Images / Getty Images News via Getty Images

24/7 Wall St. Insights

Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) market cap is currently $3.6 trillion, making it the most valuable company traded on any U.S. exchange. It has raced up at the same pace as the S&P 500 this year, pushing it up 22%. Another 10% increase will bring it to $4 trillion, making it the first public corporation to break that barrier.

Two things could drive the stock higher, or lower. The first is the count of iPhone 16 unit sales. Analysts have several sets of estimates. The most recent of these is from Counterpoint, which said that sales were up 20% in the first three weeks it was on the market in China. This is compared to iPhone 15 sales for the same period a year ago. China is a critical market because there are 900 million smartphone owners there, compared to less than 300 million in the United States.

The second catalyst for the share price is the next earnings announcement on October 31. It is hard to say what a home run quarter would look like. Last year’s revenue was $89.5 billion, and per-share earnings were $1.46. iPhone 16 sales will barely be included, based on when the phone first went on sale. However, it will need to show significant progress from the 2023 numbers.

Apple is in a race for the $4 trillion crowd. The other contestant is AI bellwether Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), whose earnings need to grow in high double digits to keep up its extraordinary revenue run.

Apple Price Prediction and Forecast 2025-2030

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Douglas A. McIntyre

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

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A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

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McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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