Customers walk past an Apple logo inside a Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York City.
A year after breaching the $2 trillion mark, Apple Inc is within striking distance of a $3 trillion market value, a milestone that would make it as big as the world's fifth largest economy after Germany.
Apple's shares were up 1.6% at $174. They need to trade at $182.85 to reach the mark and cap a strong rally that has been driven by investors betting on its brand and viewing it as a safe haven.
The stock has gone up about 30% this year, on top of an 80% surge in 2020. The S&P 500 has risen 25% for the period.
Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla have all gained between 10% and 70% of their peers in the trillion-dollar club.
Apple seems to be more immune to the ebb and flow of economic forces because of this strong brand. Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said the new product pipeline is pretty strong.
There are some weaknesses in getting hold of the handsets and making sure they're available for the public, which is why there is an expectation that Apple is going to come for you. In 2018 Apple hit $1 trillion in market value and took two years to double that value.
The stock has already exceeded Wall Street's median price target by $4, with a majority of analysts covering the stock rating it buy or higher.
Apple has lost its title as the most valuable company to Microsoft Corp earlier this year after CEO Tim Cook's comments on supply chain woes and the struggle to procure semiconductors and components to make phones and laptops.
Microsoft is about $500 billion short of $3 trillion in market value.