Apple touches $5 trillion market cap on earnings eve
Apple briefly became the second $5 trillion company ahead of quarterly results expected to show strong revenue growth, while naming hardware chief John Ternus as Tim Cook's successor.
Apple shares touched a 52-week high of $342.89 on Tuesday, pushing its market capitalisation to roughly $5.036 trillion. The stock closed at $340.08, leaving its valuation just shy of the milestone at approximately $4.99 trillion. The intraday peak makes Apple the second publicly listed company to breach the $5 trillion mark, following Nvidia.
The milestone comes a day after Apple reclaimed the position of the world's most valuable public company from Nvidia. The stock has surged 17.5% this month, erasing a 7.3% decline from June. Year-to-date, shares are up 25%, outperforming the rest of the "Magnificent 7" technology cohort, including Nvidia, Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft.
Investors will closely watch the company's third-quarter earnings report on Thursday, 30 July. The results will test whether this renewed market enthusiasm is backed by underlying fundamentals. Analysts polled by Reuters expect revenue to jump more than 15% year-on-year.
The recent rally reflects confidence in Apple's product ecosystem and its long-awaited pivot to artificial intelligence. Catching up in AI remains a central challenge for the tech giant. Apple plans to release a new, Google-powered Siri chatbot to consumers this fall, opting to rely on an external partner rather than developing the AI entirely in-house.
Separately, Apple outlined a long-term leadership succession plan. John Ternus, the company's vice-president of hardware engineering, will succeed Tim Cook as chief executive on 1 September 2026.
Cook's tenure oversaw a historic expansion in shareholder value. When he took the helm, the stock traded at $11.50; it closed Tuesday at $340.08. Under his leadership, Apple became the first company to reach $1 trillion, $2 trillion, and $3 trillion valuations in 2018, 2020, and 2022, respectively.
Ternus will take charge as Apple adjusts its sales strategy to maintain hardware momentum. The company recently launched a device leasing program with Klarna, allowing customers to pay monthly for iPhones, Macs, iPads, and Apple Watches. The program gives consumers the option to return, upgrade, or purchase the hardware outright.
