Apple’s now worth $3 hootin’ trillion — and half could be thanks to its services biz

Last night, Apple became the first US company to breach the mark of a $3 trillion market cap. The party lasted only a brief while, as the firm’s stock brought the valuation down to $2.99 trillion within a few hours.

Over the years, the iPhone has been the major force behind the Cupertino-based tech giant’s bottom line. More recently, its services business has also become an important contributor. Last quarter, services generated $18.2 billion in revenue for Apple, with 25.6% year-on-year growth.

Last week, Daniel Ives, MD of investment firm Wedbush, said in an investor note that Apple’s services business could be worth $1.5 trillion: 

The linchpin to Apple’s valuation re-rating remains its Services business which we believe is worth $1.5 trillion in the eyes of the Street, coupled by its flagship hardware ecosystem which is in the midst of its strongest product cycle in over a decade led by iPhone 13. The Services business is further monetizing the Apple golden installed base and poised to reach $100 billion+ annual revenue by 2024.

The company registered $68.2 billion in revenue in services for the fiscal year 2021. Given its growth record over the years, the $100 billion revenue prediction seems achievable.

Apple’s services offering now consists of many products introduced over years: App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Fintess+, the Apple One subscription plan, Apple Card, and Apple Pay.

As Reuters noted, the firm’s shares are trading at almost 30 times its 12-month revenue of $366 billion. For comparison, Hong Kong’s GDP in 2020 was $346 billion.

The company’s competitors have some way to go before they join the $3 trillion club. Microsoft is the closest with a $2.5 trillion market cap, while Google and Amazon are yet to breach the $2 trillion mark.