Good morning. Apple briefly crossed $5 trillion in market value this week—and how it got there should matter to finance professionals.
Fortune’s Shawn Tully reports that Apple briefly reached the milestone on Tuesday, becoming only the second company in history to hit the $5 trillion mark, less than a year after first surpassing $4 trillion. Its shares are up nearly 60% over the past 12 months, driven by a combination of strong iPhone demand, continued services growth, and a market that’s increasingly rewarding durable cash flows over capital-intensive AI investments.
Tully examines what this milestone says about how investors are repricing mega-cap tech and why Apple’s cash-generation engine and massive buyback program continue to command a premium. His analysis also explores the growing concentration risk as market indices become even more heavily weighted toward a handful of giants, the durability of Apple’s margin profile, and how buybacks at this scale influence long-term valuation. Read Tully’s full analysis for his assessment of whether Apple can reclaim—and sustain—a $5 trillion valuation.
On Thursday, Apple reported fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16% year-over-year, a June quarter revenue record, and EPS of $2.02, up 29% year-over-year and beating Wall Street estimates. “We saw strong performance around the world with double-digit growth in every geographic segment despite supply constraints,” CFO Kevan Parekh said on the earnings call.
