After experiencing a slight drop in stock prices on the day of the WWDC Developer Conference, Apple experienced a reversal on Tuesday.
On June 11th local time in the United States, Apple's stock price surged, closing up 7.26%, marking the largest increase since November 10th, 2022 and reaching a historic closing high.
As of the close, Apple's total market value has risen to $3.18 trillion, surpassing Nvidia and approaching Microsoft, the top ranked company. Its total market value rose by over $215 billion (approximately RMB 156 trillion) in a single day, setting the largest daily increase in the company's history and becoming the third largest daily increase in US stock market history.
The rise in Apple's stock price is directly related to a series of artificial intelligence features launched the previous day, including the official debut of the first generative AI model, Apple Intelligence, cooperation with OpenAI, and comprehensive improvements to its voice assistant Siri.
It is worth noting that on the day of WWDC, the capital market seemed dissatisfied with Apple's "AI strategy". As of the close of Monday Eastern Time, Apple fell 1.91%. For over a year, Wall Street analysts have been concerned about Apple's strategy of "making big money quietly" in the field of artificial intelligence.
However, overnight, after digesting information, Wall Street analysts underwent a huge shift in their view of Apple, with at least 13 analysts raising their target stock price. Some analysts say that as the company prepares to release a new series of iPhones in the fall, the latest features may drive sales.
Among them, Morgan Stanley stated that Apple's AI capabilities make the company the "most differentiated consumer digital agent," which will drive consumers to upgrade their iPhones and is expected to "accelerate the device replacement cycle.". Bank of America analysts also point out that they firmly believe that artificial intelligence can help start the iPhone super cycle. Analysts at brokerage firm Wade Bush predict that there will be approximately 270 million iPhones waiting to be upgraded within four years.
In the view of Gil Luria, an analyst at DA Davison, Apple's AI themed developer conference has stimulated consumers' willingness to pay for the next generation of iPhones, and AI features may bring much-needed iPhone upgrade cycles that represent the growth catalyst that investors have been longing for. Apple not only has consumer information, but also their trust. It can provide deeply integrated features that independent chat applications, PCs, and Android devices may not be able to fully replicate.
Apple's stock price has also reversed its decline due to various positive factors. Meanwhile, analysis suggests that investors seem to choose to profit from Nvidia and relocate funds to Apple.
Until today, Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft have been fiercely competing for the title of the world's most valuable company. The current market value of Apple is $3.18 trillion, second only to Microsoft's $3.22 trillion and slightly higher than Nvidia's $2.97 trillion. A week ago, Nvidia surpassed Apple to become the world's second largest technology company.
Generative AI has become the core driving force behind the market value increase of the three major technology giants.
Over the past year, Microsoft has caught the fast lane of market value growth with its focus on intelligent cloud business and its identity as an OpenAI cloud service provider. In the first half of this year, Nvidia, which recently joined the $3 trillion club, overshadowed a group of technology companies with nearly crazy growth. Apple is actually plagued by the topic of weak iPhone sales.
Apple topped the world's highest market value for the first time in 2011, although its market value was less than $340 billion at the time. However, driven by iconic consumer devices, its stock price continued to rise, reaching a market value of $1 trillion for the first time in mid-2018. In August 2020, it realized a market value of $2 trillion and became the first company to reach a market value of $3 trillion nearly two years later.
At the beginning of this year, Apple's stock price reached $184.93, but due to sluggish sales of the iPhone 15 series and negative expectations such as a lack of artificial intelligence strategy, it fell to $165 at one point. Just two weeks later, Apple's performance not only exceeded Wall Street's quarterly expectations, but also raised its dividend and launched another large-scale buyback program.
As the CEO of the second largest company in the world by market value, Cook has constantly emphasized to the outside world that Apple has enormous potential in both hardware and software for AI, saying, "Believing in the transformative power and prospects of artificial intelligence, Apple has the advantages to stand out in the new era, including the ability to seamlessly integrate hardware, software, and services, as well as the breakthrough technology of Apple chips and privacy concerns."
However, the cumulative increase in Apple's stock price since the beginning of this year is only 7.88%, far lower than the 14% increase in the Nasdaq. In the future, whether Apple, which has received AI tickets, can start a new growth cycle and regain the top spot in market value depends on the market's recognition of its AI capabilities.