Apple exceeds $3T market cap as analysts heap praise on tech giant
Scott Olson
Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) valuation surpassed the $3T level on Friday, as several Wall Street analysts recently heaped an extra dose of love on the world's most valuable company.
Late on Thursday, Citi analyst Atif Malik, who started coverage on Apple (AAPL) with a buy rating, said investors are underestimating the tech giant's gross margin expansion.
Malik pointed out that Apple (AAPL) is "consistently" gaining market share from Android smartphones, it's benefiting from the higher blend of iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max models, it's continuing to make gains in China and India and is adding high margin Services revenue, while cutting costs by developing its own chips.
In addition to the buy rating, Malik put a $240 price target on Apple (AAPL), the highest target on Wall Street.
Apple (AAPL) shares closed at $193.97, up more than 2.3%, above the $190.37 level needed to surpass $3T in market cap.
Cupertino, California-based Apple (AAPL) first hit the $3T market cap level in early 2022.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives also praised on Apple (AAPL) this week, suggesting the company could be worth as much as $4T in a couple of years.
The Tim Cook-led Apple (AAPL) is "playing chess while others play checkers," according to Ives, as it is on pace to generate nearly $100B in annual services revenue on double-digit growth this year. For comparison purposes, the company generated roughly $50B in services related revenue in fiscal 2020.
"Herein lies the key to the valuation re-rating that we believe will continue to take place around Apple's stock as the Street further appreciates the sheer massive potential of this services revenue that we now assign a valuation in the $1.4 trillion range," Ives wrote in an investor note. 
Ives also stated that Wall Street has "severely underestimated" the upgrade opportunity around the iPhone, as a "mini super cycle" could be coming with the iPhone 15.
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