The broader market melt up has helped buoy shares of Apple to new highs this morning. In early trading today, the market capitalization of the tech industry giant and FAAMG member crossed the $2 trillion mark before slipping just beneath the threshold.
Shares of Apple have advanced just over 59% in 2020, despite the company’s most recent earnings report bearing news of a more modest 11% year-over-year revenue gain. Earnings per-share advanced 18% in the same quarter, a more impressive metric but still a far smaller result than the value increase that Apple’s equity has managed.
Many technology companies are enjoying a strong market rebound after seeing sharp lows in the immediate wake of COVID-19-related restrictions at home and abroad. The market sentiment appears to argue that when the global economy is back to full power, the market position of tech companies within it will be one of greater strength than before. This argument is doubled among companies that offer digital services, such as Apple.
Tech shares have set new all-time highs this year, with the Nasdaq Composite worth more than 11,000 points in recent days, a record tally after a eye-popping rally.
Around three years ago the “Big Five” American tech companies — Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook — were worth $3 trillion in aggregate, big news at the time. Today Apple and Microsoft alone are worth around $3.6 trillion.
The rise of the tech giants has been the story of a decade, their recent gains the story of the year. If the market cohort is now overvalued is, of course, up to the investing public even if warning signs abound that things are getting a bit too hot.
For startups, this is nearly all good news. Excited public markets for tech shares make private shares appear more valuable, and desirable. Public rallies can help advance IPOs, and acquisitions. So today’s news that Apple is now sufficiently rich enough to shame Croesus means that your friendly, local startup might be able to close that next round at a price that it likes.
