Apple shines in pandemic with $2 trillion value on horizon

Early in 2020, Apple appeared to be caught in a horrible bind.

initial spre of vel coronavirus shut down factories in China that assemble its iPhones and also closed its retail stores in a country that ranks as company’s biggest market besides U.S. Things looked even bleaker in March after global pandemic shoved U.S. ecomy into what w looks to be its deepest downturn since Great Depression nearly a century ago.

Since n, Apple has mand to shine amid gloom, putting it on cusp of becoming first U.S. company to boast a market value of $2 trillion, just two years after it became first to reach $1 trillion. With its stock alrey up 50% this year, only question among analysts is wher Apple will pass $2 trillion milestone before release of its next-generation iPhones in October.

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It looks like “a performance for s,” as Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives described it last week after Apple released unexpectedly strong earnings for an April-June quarter during which most U.S. consumers were stuck at home and company’s U.S. stores were closed most of that time.

So how has Apple defied doomsayers? Factories in China reopened by March and Apple’s hugely loyal customer base trust its products so much that y continued to buy iPhones and or devices online. company also me a decision several years ago to focus on selling digital services, which w include music and video streaming and warranties on top of commission it collects from an app store w under antitrust scrutiny.

An upcoming four-for-one stock split that will make Apple’s shares more affordable to more investors also sparked a rally after it was anunced last week.

Apple has been at vanguard of a group of Big Tech companies that are increasingly taking over people’s lives and stock market. Just five companies — Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Google’s parent company — account for nearly 23% of S&P 500’s entire value.

Big Tech companies have soared for years because y’ve been able to deliver outsized growth even when global ecomy was slow. More recently, y’ve largely been able to deliver even during a pandemic.

Apple, for example, said its earnings per share rose 18% in spring from a year earlier. That compares with an expected drop of 34% for companies across S&P 500, according to FactSet.