Profits at tech companies drove their stocks to all-time highs. The market capitalizations of Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon rose above $1 trillion. Profit weakness and worry about a slow economy have decreased these profits by as much as half in recent quarters. Valuation has fallen at a similar pace. However, the bottom lines are still extraordinarily high at several public corporations. Apple leads the way because it makes $157 million daily based on its net income.
A new study by Tipalti, titled “Profit Per Second,” looked at the profits of 50 American publicly traded companies. The list was based on 2021 profits. Four companies had profits of over $100 million a day. After Apple, these were Microsoft ($121 million), Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway ($116 million), and Alphabet (owner of Google) at $110 million. Several more made over $50 million a day. These were Meta (parent of Facebook) at $78 million, JP Morgan at $78 million, Amazon at $58 million, and Intel at $57 million.
Several of these, all tech companies, were founded in the last few decades. They have been growth engines of the U.S. economy and the stock market. Profits at many have started to slow, however. Meta’s market value has dropped by more than 50% as its revenue has been eaten into by other companies that rely on advertising. Slow PC sales and competition from AMD have hurt Intel’s revenue. Amazon’s revenue has been undermined by slowing retail sales.
Apple could fall from its perch. Sales of the iPhone 14 have been lackluster. It was only a matter of time before Apple could not upgrade features on the iPhone enough to drive new buyers to stores (or online). And Apple faces the shutdown of its largest assembly plant, the Foxconn operation in China. COVID-19 and employee unrest have forced management to suspend work. Both of these circumstances could go on indefinitely.
Apple will continue to be among the most profitable companies in the world. However, those profits could fall considerably in the next year.
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