Apple becomes first publicly traded company to end trading day above $3 trillion

Apple became the first publicly traded company Friday to end a trading day above $3 trillion in its fourth straight record closing. 

The technology juggernaut closed at $193.97, up 2.3% for a market value of $3.04 trillion.

Twice in January The Silicon Valley company briefly rose above the $3 trillion mark before closing just under it. 

Apple’s stock actually sunk into a prolonged descent that pushed its market value briefly below $2 trillion earlier this year amid a slowdown in growth and investor jitters about rising interest rates that affected the entire tech sector.

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Its stock began to rise again earlier this month after it unveiled Vision Pro, a virtual reality headset. 

“Apple invested heavily in services before the pandemic, and it’s starting to bear fruit,” David Russell, vice president of market intelligence at the TradeStation Group, told FOX Business. “The market typically assigns higher multiples to those revenues, which is helping drive valuation. But the real driver has been renewed confidence in its fundamentals.”

“Higher-priced iPhones are boosting margins and investors are now looking into the future and expecting more positives with about a quarter of a billion handsets due for upgrade soon. Apple is also entering the Indian market, which opens a bigger growth potential,” Russell added.

The stock has rallied 49% this year, partially based on beliefs that the Fed will soon stop hiking interest rates.

Apple closed at $2 trillion for the first time less than two years ago in August 2021. It topped $1 trillion about two years before that. 

“It’s a testament to one of the greatest publicly traded companies that’s ever existed,” Art Hogan, a chief market strategist for B. Riley Wealth, said, according to Reuters. “It continues to grow and diversify its revenue streams, has shareholder-friendly management, buys back shares, throws off a dividend and has a fortress balance sheet with strong and defendable cash flows.” 

Before late co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, after being pushed aside by then-CEO John Sculley in 1985, the company was near bankruptcy and had to ask rival Microsoft for a cash infusion. Since its comeback, Apple’s worth has steadily risen, helped in no small part by the introduction of 2007’s revolutionary iPhone. 

The company has been run by CEO Tim Cook since 2011.

Microsoft is the second-most valuable public company at $2.5 trillion. Oil giant Saudi Aramco has a market value of $2.08 trillion. Alphabet, the parent of Google, Amazon and Nvidia have market values above $1 trillion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.