Apple is now valued at $3 trillion as of the New York stock market open on Friday, marking a significant milestone for the iPhone maker and the broader technology sector.
Shares in Apple (Stock ticker: AAPL) jumped 1% at the start of Friday, opening at $191.78, above the key $190.74 level that represents a $3 trillion market capitalization. And there is reason to believe that the stock could continue to rise as well.
The tech giant boosted a record valuation after a notable rally at the start of the year, with the stock up 47.% in 2023, outperforming the market.
dow jones industrial index,
Standard & Poor’s 500,
And heavy technology
Nasdaq
—higher than 3%, 15%, and 30%, respectively.
Apple briefly topped $3 trillion in trading in early 2022, but it has never closed successfully above that significant level nor opened above it before.
It’s a “historic day for the tech sector,” Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, wrote in a note Friday. “Apple skeptics and bears continue to rack their heads as many called Apple’s ‘broken growth story’ this year against a tougher backdrop that we firmly believe the exact opposite has happened.”
The stock is still good for gains, according to Wall Street, with the stock having an average Buy rating out of nearly 40 analysts polled by FactSet.
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Analysts at Citi joined the chorus of bulls on Thursday, kicking off coverage of Apple with a Buy rating and a price target of $240, indicating a gain of 27% from Thursday’s closing price of $189.59.
“Apple is riding out the overall slowdown and inflationary pressure on consumer spending by consistently capturing share of Android phones, and we see potential for upside of 30% more than current levels,” the analysts wrote in a note.
“We believe Street underestimates continued gross margin expansion,” they added, noting that the shift in iPhone sales toward the premium segment, increasing share gains in China and India, continued chip self-design, and higher-margin service sales mix were all tailwinds.
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Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
