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TechFortune Crystal Ball

Prediction: Apple Will Soon Become the World’s First $800 Billion Company

Scott DeCarlo
By
Scott DeCarlo
Scott DeCarlo
VP of Research
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Scott DeCarlo
By
Scott DeCarlo
Scott DeCarlo
VP of Research
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 15, 2015, 11:30 AM ET
Photograph by David Paul Morris —Bloomberg via Getty Images

The staff of Fortune recently assembled its predictions for 2016. Here’s one of our forecasts.

Apple (AAPL) just announced record earnings for fiscal 2015, posting nearly one-quarter of a trillion dollars in revenue, and it remains the most valuable public company by far. Apple briefly held the title of the world’s first $700 billion company in the first half of 2015, and Wall Street analysts believe it’ll shatter that mark next year: Their average 12-month price target of $149 would give Apple a market capitalization of $831 billion. To get there, Apple shares would have to rise 22%. But considering its track record, it seems realistic to expect that Apple will justify that kind of bump, by continuing to gain smartphone market share and achieve strong growth in emerging economies.

This article is part of the 2016 Fortune Crystal Ball, a package of 33 predictions about business, politics and the economy by the writers and editors of Fortune. To see the entire package, click here.

About the Author
Scott DeCarlo
By Scott DeCarloVP of Research
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Scott DeCarlo is the VP of research at Fortune, where he oversees the publication’s signature lists, including the Fortune 500, Global 500, World’s Most Admired Companies, and Fastest-Growing Companies.

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