Tech giants Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) both hit $4 trillion in market value on Tuesday, although Apple has since dipped below that threshold. Indeed, Microsoft rose after confirming that it now owns 27% of OpenAI’s for-profit business. At the same time, Apple’s recent gains are tied to strong iPhone 17 sales, as new models are outselling last year’s iPhone 16. As a result, Apple has jumped 25% in the last three months and will report earnings on Thursday, while Microsoft, which is up 6% during this timeframe, reports on Wednesday.
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Nevertheless, even though Apple reached the $4 trillion milestone, it’s still behind chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), which leads the market with a $4.6 trillion value thanks to its dominance in AI. In addition, many investors view Apple as moving more slowly when it comes to AI. This is because it hasn’t released its updated Siri yet, while competitors like Google (GOOGL) have already launched their own AI tools.
Still, with over 1 billion active iPhones and services like Apple TV and the Apple Watch, Apple has a loyal customer base that keeps buying. Moreover, analysts are optimistic due to how well Apple has handled trade issues. In fact, it has moved much of its production to India and Vietnam while maintaining a good relationship with U.S. officials. Therefore, JPMorgan raised its price target on Apple to $290 and said that investors are the most confident that they have been in a year.
Which Stock Is the Better Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, out of the two stocks mentioned above, analysts think that MSFT stock has more room to run than AAPL. In fact, MSFT’s price target of $628.70 per share implies 15.6% upside versus AAPL’s 3.1% decline.
