In the 1920’s, New York City was the biggest in the world, with a population of more than 7 million people.
And it was around then it became known as the “Big Apple”, which went 1920s viral after a horseracing journalist heard a couple of stableboys using that nickname https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/big-apple-nickname-origin-nyc-history.
There’s only one Big Apple in the 2020’s though – and it’s not New York!
The new Big Apple is, well, Apple.
The value of Apple is around £2.2 trillion. The problem is that number is soooo big that it seems meaningless.
Here’s some context to help us understand just how big that number really is - The total value of the one hundred companies in the FTSE 100 is about £2.1 trillion.
This means that Apple is worth 5% MORE (£100 billion) than the entire FTSE 100 Index!
Now, Apple is a brilliantly run company with top quality products and an incredibly loyal customer base, which will be around for a long time (which is why it’s Warren Buffett’s largest holding). But come on!
Last year, Apple had about £320 billion of sales around the world, and turned that into about £76 billion of profit.
But the hundred stocks of the FTSE 100 - Shell and BP and HSBC and GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca and Diageo and Unilever and the rest, had £1.5 trillion of sales! And generated £215 billion of profit!
Maybe it’s because it’s easier to get excited about a single company (iPhones! Airpods! Steve Jobs!) compared to an index (diversification … sectors … dividends).
But things can change. New York lost its crown as the world’s biggest city in the 1960’s. Can Apple stay this big forever…?
Currently, Apple is also ebi’s (Clearwater’s investment partners) biggest holding but at just 1.0353% in Portfolio 50.
I hope you have found this interesting but, if you have any questions about this piece or any other finance related matter, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Yours sincerely,
Graham Ponting CFP Chartered MCSI
Managing Partner
