Apple closes in on Microsoft in bid to reclaim title of largest U.S. company for the first time since the start of 2024
Apple Inc.’s stock experienced a notable surge Tuesday that added about $215 billion to the company’s market capitalization and brought it closer toward reclaiming the title of largest U.S. company.
Shares of Apple AAPL, +7.26% rose 7.3% in Tuesday’s action to log their best single-day percentage uptick since 2022, as well as just their third gain in excess of 7% over the past three years.
The stock was the leading gainer in both the S&P 500 SPX and Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA on the day, with its ascent adding almost 92 points to the Dow. Apple shares haven’t been the biggest daily S&P 500 winner since Nov. 30, 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The company’s one-day market-cap haul was its biggest on record and the third-largest for any U.S. company in history, also according to Dow Jones Market Data.
With Tuesday’s stock momentum, Apple widened the market-cap gap between itself and Nvidia Corp. NVDA, -0.71%, while edging closer to Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +1.12%, which is currently the largest U.S. company by market value. Microsoft itself clinched a new record market cap of $3.22 trillion in Tuesday’s session.
The difference between Apple’s market cap and Microsoft’s was $39.4 billion at the close of trading, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That’s the narrowest the margin has been since Jan. 26. Apple hasn’t been worth more than Microsoft since Jan. 24.
With a market value of about $3.18 trillion, Apple logged a new record market cap for the first time since the end of July 2023, when it clocked in at $3.09 trillion. The company has added $628 billion in market value relative to its 2024 low achieved in mid-April. As such, Apple’s market-cap boost from its 2024 exceeds the individual market caps of all but eight companies in the U.S., excluding its own.
Apple’s stock also finished in record territory, ending the day at $207.15. That made for its first record finish since Dec. 14, 2023.
While Apple shares ended lower on Monday as the company’s WWDC keynote wrapped up, analysts have since weighed in with upbeat views of the company’s announcements and strategy in overnight reports.
“The new Apple Intelligence AI features will only be available in the fall on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 chips or higher and upcoming products,” Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes wrote. “Older stuff will be obsolete if you want AI — including all those iPhones bought during COVID. We now have more conviction in our Super Cycle thesis that could even result in iPhone revenue growth of about 20% for up to two years.”