Apple on cusp of becoming first U.S. company worth $3 trillion

Apple is edging closer to becoming the first publicly held U.S. company worth $3 trillion. In early trading on Monday, the technology titan's shares nosed up 1%, valuing the entire company at $2.96 trillion, before finishing the day slightly down for a stock market value of $2.88 trillion.

Apple reached $1 trillion in 2018 and cracked $2 trillion in August of 2020, powered by its steady expansion into a range of services as CEO Tim Cook works to reduce the company's reliance on iPhones, iPads and other devices for growth. 

"The linchpin to Apple's valuation re-rating remains its services business, which we believe is worth $1.5 trillion in the eyes of the Street, coupled by its flagship hardware ecosystem which is in the midst of its strongest product cycle in over a decade led by iPhone 13," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a report.

A market capitalization of $3 trillion would put Apple's value roughly on par with the gross domestic product of the United Kingdom, exceeding the GDP of countries including India ($2.9 trillion), France ($2.9 trillion) and Russia ($1.6 trillion).

The company has also stretched its lead over domestic tech rivals Microsoft, which ranks No. 2 among U.S. companies in market worth at $2.6 trillion, Google-owner Alphabet ($1.9 trillion) and Amazon ($1.7 trillion). 

Apple's stock price has risen about 45% this year to around $175 as of Monday. For 2021, the company reported fiscal year profits of roughly $95 billion on revenue of nearly $366 billion, up from $275 billion the previous year. 

Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco is valued by investors at nearly $7 trillion, according to Bloomberg.