Apple’s Market Value Surges Above $900 billion

Apple, the world’s most valuable company just broke a new record.

Largely powered by strong earnings and optimism surrounding the iPhone X, the market value of the tech giant has closed above $900 billion at the end of a day of trading for the first time: $904 billion as of Wednesday.

It’s the first time that Apple has been valued at over $900 billion at the end of a day of trading, although the company has crossed the mark in intraday trading before. The next closest company – Alphabet – has a market cap of $728 billion.

Apple has had a very good few months. It’s stock is up 52.6% in 2017 so far, and it recently released a sales forecast for its holiday quarter of more than $84 billion in revenue, which would be a record for Apple.

“We’re literally firing on all cylinders,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said on the company’s earnings call last week.

Its latest product, the iPhone X, seems to be a hit despite a high price, with supplies backordered for weeks. And Apple stands to be one of the primary beneficiaries if the Republican party passes tax reform and allows Apple to bring some of its over $200 billion in cash and securities held overseas back to the United States at a reduced rate.

Puzzled by the latest development, Business analyst Aaron Heslehurst  tweeted,  “Apple – a trillion dollar company?”

“Apple’s share price needs to rise by about another 10% for it to have a market value of $1 trillion.”

Over 60 percent of the company’s market value has been added since its co-founder and legendary chief executive Steve Jobs died in 2011. Although the company has not released many new product lines since Jobs’ passing, with the notable exception of the Apple Watch, it appears the continued popularity of the iPhone has lifted Apple to new heights under the leadership of current CEO Tim Cook.

Despite the hype, Apple would not be the first publicly traded company to reach a trillion dollars in market value. That distinction belongs to oil and gas producer PetroChina, which briefly topped $1 trillion on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2007.