Apple, Microsoft still the top two global companies by market cap

Apple and Microsoft remained the top two global companies by market capitalization at the end of July after riding this year’s rally in technology shares, notes Reuters. 

This is based on data from Refinitiv, an American-British global provider of financial market data and infrastructure. Market cap—or market capitalization—refers to the total value of all a company’s shares of stock. It’s calculated by multiplying the price of a stock by its total number of outstanding shares.

In July Apple became the first company in the world to reach a market value of US$3 trillion. Apple became a $2 trillion company in August 2020. The tech giant hit the $1 trillion mark in August 2018.

Microsoft also beat Wall Street estimates for its fiscal fourth-quarter revenue, driven by growth in its cloud computing and office software businesses, although its share price slipped back 1.4% in July after it also laid out an aggressive spending plan to meet demand for artificial intelligence services. Its market cap stood at $2.49 trillion at the end of July.

Refinitiv data shows 69% of large- and mid-cap U.S. companies have surpassed analysts’ second quarter earnings estimates so far, with the tech sector accounting for 82% of these positive surprises.