Kelly Evans: How in the world is Apple worth $2 trillion?

Kelly Evans: How in the world is Apple worth $2 trillion?

While you were busy fighting the pandemic, sorting out your kid's school year (or lack thereof), and cautiously eyeing the return of major league sports, Apple became--okay, is about to become--the first-ever $2 trillion company.  

Its market cap crossed $1.9 trillion yesterday, closed just below that level and as of this writing is around $1.88 trillion. It overtook Saudi Aramco as of Friday to become the world's biggest publicly traded company. The stock is up 50% this year--and it's not even a pandemic play, per se. There were analysts back in December saying yeah, it could be a $2 trillion company--by 2024!  

So what is driving Apple to these unprecedented heights? Quite simply, its profits. This isn't a speculative, Tesla-is-changing-the-future kind of play. This isn't an Amazon-esque stay-at-home standout. If anything, Apple has been hampered by the coronavirus. Bernstein's Toni Saconagghi estimates its iPhone revenues will be 10% lower this year than they would have been otherwise between the pandemic hitting demand and the delay of its iPhone 12 launching this fall. 

And still, Apple is expected to book about $280 billion of revenue this year, and $58 billion of net income, or profits, according to Barclays. Its those profits that set Apple apart; it