Fears of a " lost decade" ahead for stocks don't change the fact that 2024 created stunning gains in the market value of America's most valuable publicly traded companies.
The exclusive trillion dollar club, which consists of stocks with a market value north of $1 trillion, saw its overall value nearly double in 2024 to $19 trillion, up from $10 trillion at the end of 2023. A company's market value is the number of shares outstanding multiplied by the current share price.
Investor enthusiasm over lower interest rates and artificial intelligence drove much of 2024's gains, bringing the club's membership up to eight, compared with just five in both 2023 and 2022. While most of the names on the list are familiar, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, there's one newcomer plus two companies that have rejoined the club after falling out in recent years.
Despite big gains from other tech companies, Apple remains the largest U.S. company, with a market value of $3.8 trillion. More than half of Apple's revenue comes from iPhones, and its stock has stayed aloft in part on hopes that integration of AI into its devices will continue to drive profits. Apple was also the first company to reach valuations of $1 trillion and $3 trillion, achieved in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
Nvidia, which makes the chips used to power AI data centers, saw the most impressive rise, adding more than $2 trillion to its market value over the past 12 months to bring it to the current $3.3 trillion. That catapulted it to the number two spot overall, up from number five in 2023. It first passed $1 trillion in May of 2023 and $3 trillion in early June.
The other big mover was Broadcom, which also makes AI chips and enterprise software and security solutions. The Silicon Valley firm joined the trillion dollar club for the first time on Dec. 13 and has doubled its market value since the end of 2023, reaching $1.1 trillion.
Tesla and Meta rejoined the club in 2024 after prior setbacks. Worries about electric vehicle sales had weighed on Tesla for the past few years, but the stock spiked in November after Donald Trump was re-elected president. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is acting as an efficiency advisor to the president-elect and their close relationship is seen as favorable for the stock. Meta, meanwhile, has benefited from strong ad sales on Facebook, Instagram, and its other apps, which account for nearly all of its revenue.
Write to Anita Hamilton at anita.hamilton@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 31, 2024 15:09 ET (20:09 GMT)
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