On Monday, shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) rose 1.17% and the tech giant became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, with a market cap of $4.95 trillion.
It took the title from Nvidia, which saw its shares (Nasdaq: NVDA) fall 4.99%, ending the day with a $4.77 trillion valuation. The chipmaker has held the spot for over a year after taking it from Microsoft.
All three companies are part of the so-called Magnificent 7 bundle of stocks, with the others being Google parent Alphabet; Instagram and Facebook owner Meta Platforms; e-commerce giant Amazon; and Elon Musk’s EV maker Tesla.
This year, Microsoft and some of its fellow Big Tech companies have seen their shares tumble in the markets. While Apple is up 23.93% year-to-date (YTD), Microsoft is down 19.54%. In the circle of life (or tech stock ups and downs), Apple lost the No. 1 spot to Microsoft in 2024.
Here’s how all the Magnificent 7 stocks stand YTD:
- Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG): up 4.33%
- Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN): up 0.25%
- Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL): up 23.93%
- Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META): down 19.54%
- Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT): down 10.03%
- Nvidia Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA): up 5.37%
- Tesla, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA): down 31.24%
Nvidia and Alphabet are the only other Magnificent 7 stocks to have any noticeable growth this year, but they’re minor compared to Apple. Plus, the companies’ shares are down over the last three months and past five days—whereas Apple saw growth over the same period.
Why is Apple outperforming other Magnificent 7 stocks?
The tech world is firing on all cylinders to grow AI systems and infrastructure. While Apple has taken steps to utilize the technology, it hasn’t made the same company-wide shift that many of the other Magnificent 7 have done.
For one thing, the company uses Google’s AI models and cloud computing services, rather than having built its own. Of course, there’s still features like Apple Intelligence and June’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC) announcement that a new AI-powered Siri will arrive later this year.
But investors could be attracted to Apple’s comparatively cautious dive into AI, particularly as capital expenditures increase among the more AI-focused tech giants.
Alphabet, for example, recently raised its 2026 capex forecast to north of $200 billion. Apple, by contrast, is only expected to spend about $13 or $14 billion.
“Some appear to be racing forward, seemingly pursuing AI for the sake of AI, without clear regard for the people — all of us — that it’s ultimately meant to serve,” Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said at WWDC.
Apple will publish its 2026 third-quarter earnings report on Thursday. Three other Mag 7 companies—Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta—are also set to report this week.