The world’s largest company got even bigger Tuesday, as Apple set a new record share price as the Silicon Valley titan enjoys an extended bump from the release of the artificial intelligence-forward iPhone 16.
Pedestrians pass an Apple store in Shanghai over the weekend.
Shares of Apple rose as much as 2.7%, setting a new intraday record of $237.49.
It’s the first time in exactly three months Apple stock hit an all-time high.
Though the stock pared gains slightly to 1.7% by 11 a.m. EDT, trading at $235.33 per share, it’s still on track to break the July 16 record close of $234.82.
Apple’s market capitalization rose to as high as $3.61 trillion, the highest valuation ever recorded by a public company, breaking its own July record.
There was no singular major catalyst driving up Apple’s share price, and it certainly wasn’t a product of a broader big tech rally, as shares of fellow trillion-dollar West Coast firms Nvidia (-4.4%), Microsoft (-0.4%), Alphabet (up 0.1%), Amazon (-1.3%) and Meta (-1.3%) largely struggled. It was likely a continuation of continued optimism from analyst supply checks on the iPhone 16 released last month to Wall Street concerns about global demand. Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring said iPhone lead times, a proxy for the smartphone demand, are “encouraging” and the 56 million iPhones shipped last month was about 10% higher than expected, indicating about $2.5 billion in marginal quarterly revenue upside. Apple also announced Tuesday its first new iPad Mini tablet since 2021, a model emphasizing AI applications.
A pair of major events will come later this month: The Oct. 28 launch of Apple Intelligence, the iPhone operating software focused on AI, and quarterly earnings after market close Oct. 31. Analysts expect the AI push from Apple will boost its financial performance, with analysts predicting record third-calendar-quarter revenues of $94 billion and net income of $24 billion.