, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)){kind=link}
It looks like 2018 will see the first trillion dollar company, with all eyes on Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).
If technology share prices continue to rise at the same rate as 2017, investors are predicting for a firm to reach a stock market valuation of $1 trillion (£738 billion) or more for the first time.
“You have to go back to Rockefeller and Standard Oil to find a company so dominant in a business so large. Other companies settle for unit sales or revenues, but in many quarters, Apple collects more than 80 percent of gross profit across the smartphone industry,” said David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners.
Apple is currently leading the race. On Tuesday the tech giant had a stock market valuation of $869 billion – this is $140 billion more than Google’s parent company Alphabet, which has a market value of $729bn.
In third place is Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), which has a valuation of $664 billion. Some analysts remain positive that retail giant Amazon is more likely to become the first $1 trillion company because it’s rapid growth.
Last year saw Amazon’s shares increase in value by 58 percent. The increase in shares led to the company’s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, becoming the world’s richest man.
According to George Salmon, an equity analyst at stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, it is “just a matter of time” before one of the top companies hits the $1 trillion dollar mark.
“With Facebook, Google and Amazon attracting an ever-increasing number of eyeballs on screen, the US tech sector has more than played its part in the global stock market rally,” Salmon said. “However, it’s Apple, one of the older tech giants, that’s in pole position to break through the $1tn barrier.”