By Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may be the world’s largest company, with a $3.4 trillion market cap, but that doesn’t mean it will retain that place forever. Some cracks in Apple’s armor could make it vulnerable, allowing other companies to pass Apple in market cap.
Here are three stocks that could be worth more than Apple five years from now.
What’s wrong with Apple?
Apple isn’t the company it used to be. It used to be at the forefront of innovation and consistently released game-changing products. It hasn’t done that for some time, and even the latest iPhone (iPhone 16) seems to be struggling despite its much-hyped Apple Intelligence features.
All of this adds up to a business that hasn’t grown its sales since 2022.
If Alphabet were to fetch the same premium as Apple (30.5 times forward earnings), it would have 42% upside. That would give it a $2.88 trillion market cap, only 19% away from Apple. If Alphabet continues its pattern of growth and Apple continues its pattern of stagnation, that would be an easy gap to close over five years, allowing Alphabet to surpass Apple.
Additionally, Apple’s premium could decrease to the market average, which would provide a similar effect to Alphabet’s rise.
I think there is a strong chance Apple is worth less than these three if it doesn’t start growing sales soon. If it launches a new product that’s a hit, then these projections likely won’t hold true.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Prediction: 3 Stocks That’ll Be Worth More Than Apple 5 Years From Now was originally published by The Motley Fool
