Apple overtakes Nvidia as most valuable company as iPhone maker avoids 'capex pitfalls' - Yahoo Finance

What the report says

Yahoo Finance reported that Apple moved back ahead of Nvidia to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company after its shares ended Monday at a record level. The report said Apple stock rose more than 1%, lifting the iPhone maker’s market value to about $4.94 trillion, compared with Nvidia’s roughly $4.75 trillion market capitalization, based on Yahoo Finance data.

The move reflects a shift in investor sentiment around artificial intelligence spending. Yahoo Finance said Apple shares are up more than 22% for the year and have outpaced other “Magnificent Seven” stocks, with investors treating the company’s comparatively restrained AI investment strategy as an advantage. Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, told Yahoo Finance that Apple had avoided some capital-expenditure risks after earlier criticism that it was not spending aggressively enough on AI.

According to Yahoo Finance’s AlphaSpace data cited in the article, Apple’s capital expenditures have fallen over the past three quarters. That contrasts with companies such as Alphabet, which recently raised its spending outlook to support AI infrastructure, and Tesla, which increased spending tied to robotaxi and robotics plans. Yahoo Finance noted that both companies’ shares declined after their earnings reports, while Alphabet is up about 4% year to date and Tesla is down about 30%.

The next focus for investors is Apple’s earnings report, scheduled for Thursday after the market close. Yahoo Finance said market watchers will look for evidence that Apple can expand its Apple Intelligence features without a major increase in capital spending or pressure on margins. The report also said the call will be Tim Cook’s last as CEO before a planned Sept. 1 move to executive chairman, with John Ternus set to take over.