Apple reclaims crown as most valuable public company

Apple is back to being the world’s most valuable publicly traded company once again.

The company’s stock price has been rising steadily since Apple revealed its first earnings of 2019 last month. Worried investors ditched the stock at the beginning of the year due to slumping iPhone sales, but it just passed Amazon and Microsoft today, putting Apple back on top.

AAPL shares closed at a price of $174.24 this afternoon, giving it a market capitalization of $821.59 billion. Microsoft is currently the second most valuable company with a market cap of $813.48 billion while Amazon’s market cap sits at $805.70 billion. The three tech giants have been jockeying for the top spot throughout the week. It’s likely the most valuable crown will change hands throughout 2019.

Late last year Apple become the first company in the world to hit a $1 trillion market cap. Investors started ditching the stock when Apple put out a letter warning that iPhone sales during the 2018 holiday quarter came in lower than expected. Services have been the company’s biggest bright spot though as Apple tries to grow revenues year-over-year again.

Apple still has a long hill to climb to get back to the $1 trillion mark. The stock price needs to hit $207.05 per share. Morgan Stanley analysts predict that Apple shares could be worth at least $211 a year from now.