Apple currently sits at a $3.507 trillion market cap (market capitalization means the total dollars in shares being sold), the largest in the world (as of 7/9/2024). For context of how big of a number 3.507 trillion is I’ll write it out: 3,507,000,000,000. If you purchase $1 million worth of shares you would own .0000285% of the total value. What would a $1 billion purchase get you? Try .0285% of the total value. Needless to say: Apple is a company of great value.
Some believe that Apple could be a $4 trillion company this year. If it were to reach that high, then it would be nearly 11.5% of the total U.S. debt ($34.857 trillion). That means less than 9 companies the size of apple could pay off the United States debt.
It’s important to understand with Apple, that it has grown leaps and bounds, but it still has a realitively modest $228 stock price/share (as of 7/9/2024). While $228 is not necessarily cheap for the average investor, it is a strong entry price for those who are looking to invest into the stock. Apple’s most recent sales report showed that the company posted “quarterly revenue of $90.8 billion, down 4 percent year over year.” That sales report was released on May 2nd with the stock opening at $172.51/share. Since then, the stock has grown 32.56% to $228. Those who have invested on or before that date have greatly increased their portfolios.
Should I Invest?
Just like those who invested in Bitcoin when it was at its peak of over $72,000 a few weeks back, investing in Apple now would mean that you’d be taking a risk in investing in a company during its peak. While Apple is an extremely strong company, and likely to go up in the long-run, making an investment today only leaves one open for a stressful few months. It’s easy to invest in a stock when it’s doing well, but it can be difficult to watch as it inevitably takes decreases. Apple will likely go down. When will it go down? How long will it stay down? How low will it go? Those questions are impossible to answer. It may only drop a few dollars, and then continue to increase from there. If we look at the stock’s five year performance we see many peaks, followed by quick drops.
Anyone who invested during these peaks quickly saw their investments lose money. However, as long as they didn’t sell when the price went down, they were greeted with another peak. This of course was then followed by more price drops. However, over a few years, the stock has continued to grow through peaks and valleys, and now the company sits as the worlds most valuable company, the first to ever hit $3.5 trillion in market cap, and likely the first to hit $4 trillion.
So should you buy the stock? To answer this question you have to evaluate the company’s history, and ask yourself if you want to time the market. Generally, when you hear about a good thing on the stock market, it’s already too late. But Apple is not a meme stock. It’s a company that is here to stay, and will continue to make billions in profit for the next several decades. If your goal is to capitalize on a hot stock, and pull out with a profit in the short-term, then you are taking a large risk. If your goal is to capitalize on an extremely profitable company with a strong world-wide business model, then you are taking a much smaller risk.
