猜測誰將成為首家市值沖破萬億美元的公司，已經成為投資者和公司高管最喜歡的業余消遣之一。

這個令人瞠目的13位數，足以購買約13億部iPhone 7 Plus手機，而蘋果公司通常也被視為最快達到1萬億美元市值的頭號種子選手。

但巴克萊銀行認為，另一家甚至還不到這個數字一半的公司才是這頂王冠的最有力競爭者。它就是零售和云服務巨頭亞馬遜公司。在過去一年中，亞馬遜的股價飆漲了48%，目前的股價超過887美元，創歷史新高。

在上周向客戶發布的一份研究報告中，巴克萊銀行分析師羅斯·桑德勒領導的研究團隊寫道，“在我們看來，這是遲早的事情。”他們認為，亞馬遜將成為第一家達到這個驚人市值的公司。

上周五早上，亞馬遜股價上漲了逾1%，有望連續第三天創下新高，進而讓這家電子商務巨頭的市值達到4240億美元。

亞馬遜去年的表現似乎無法令投資者不滿，其利潤增長近三倍，達到24億美元，銷售額約為1360億美元，比上年增長了27%。

如果亞馬遜的股價繼續保持過去12個月的上漲速度，它的市值只需兩年多一點的時間就將達到驚人的1萬億美元。然而，要維持如此迅猛的增速絕非易事。亞馬遜股票仍然需要在目前的基礎上飆漲140%，才能達到13位數市值。市場很少如此穩定，投資者很少如此忠誠，競爭對手也很少像這樣年復一年地缺少威脅。

這也許正是為什么巴克萊認為亞馬遜可能成為首批市值沖破萬億大關的上市公司之一，但這一幕至少不會在下一個十年出現。到2027年，分析師預測稱，亞馬遜最終可能達到約910億美元的市值，距離1萬億仍然差大約10%。

屆時，巴克萊銀行估計亞馬遜的收入將增長近三倍至5940億美元。

但鑒于其他競爭者的市值更加接近這個目標，亞馬遜在通往1萬億美元市值的道路上必將面臨殘酷的競爭。要想拔得頭籌，亞馬遜必須得擊敗以下這幾家公司：

1.蘋果一直是備受華爾街青睞的競爭者。坐擁7560億美元市值的蘋果，不僅是最大的標準普爾500指數成分股公司，就連沃倫·巴菲特也對這只股票贊不絕口。他的伯克希爾哈撒韋公司購買了價值數十億美元的蘋果股票。巴菲特甚至預測稱，蘋果很可能先于伯克希爾沖破1萬億美元大關，后者目前的市值為4120億美元。但要達到這個數字，投資者需要推動這只科技股再增長32%。盡管信心滿滿的投資者指出，備受期待的iPhone 8，以及蘋果在增強現實領域的進展將助推該公司企及這個數字，但慷慨的股票回購和分紅計劃可能會減慢這一進程，因為這些資金原本可以用來開發有吸引力的新產品。

2. 谷歌的母公司Alphabet是標準普爾500指數第二大成分股，目前的市值為5810億美元。這只股票還需要飆漲72%，才能抵達1萬億美元。這意味著，Alphabet的股價需要達到1460美元。在過去一年中，這只股票上漲了11%。

3.微軟參與這場競逐戰的時間遠大于其他競爭者。這家42歲高齡的公司遠比亞馬遜更加接近1萬億美元市值。微軟目前的市值為4170億美元，還需要增長98%才能抵達這個目標。

4. Facebook是標準普爾500指數第五大成分股公司，目前的市值為4120億美元。要想達到1萬億美元，其142美元的股價還需要增長143%。但它最近的表現引發了市場傳聞：Facebook可能成為首批達到這一目標的公司之一。在過去一年，這只股票上漲了23%。

5.伊隆·馬斯克的特斯拉公司是一匹橫空出世的黑馬。它的名字也躋身市場傳聞的1萬億美元市值競爭者之列。

事實上，正是馬斯克自己推動這家電動汽車公司加入戰團。為了說服投資者相信特斯拉收購太陽能公司SolarCity是精明之舉，這位以連續創業著稱的特斯拉CEO聲稱，合并后的公司終有一日將達到1萬億美元市值。誠然，馬斯克是在為自己搖旗吶喊，但過去在展望自家公司的發展軌跡時，他的預言往往非常準確。但這將是一個很難實現的成就：特斯拉目前的市值為4500億美元，要達到這個目標，其股價還需要增長2122%。

假設巴克萊銀行所言不虛，亞馬遜的市值將在2027年底達到1萬億美元，特斯拉的股價需要每年飆漲33%才能捷足先登。也許，馬斯克不會贏得這場競賽。（財富中文網）

譯者：Kevin

It has become a favorite pastime among investors and company executives to speculate: who will be the first trillion-dollar company?

That value is an eye-popping 13 figures long, and would be enough to buy about 1.3 billion of the iPhone 7 Plus, made by Apple (aapl, -0.19%), the company that's usually considered top-seeded to reach $1 trillion in market value the soonest.

But banking giant Barclays thinks another company that's not even halfway to a $1 trillion market cap is a strong contender for the crown: Amazon.com (amzn, +1.16%), the retail and now cloud giant whose stock price has shot up by 48% over the past year, and is now trading at a record high of more than $887 a share.

“It’s just a question of when, not if, in our view,” the team led by Barclays analyst Ross Sandler wrote in a note to clients this week, saying the company would be among the first to reach that valuation.

Amazon stock rose more than 1% Friday morning, on track to set a new high for the third day in a row, and giving the e-commerce company a market valuation of $424 billion.

Amazon seemed incapable of displeasing investors last year, with its profits growing nearly three-fold to $2.4 billion, on sales of about $136 billion, a 27% increase over the year prior.

If Amazon shares keep rising at the clip they have in the last 12 months, it will get to the elusive $1 trillion market cap in just a little more than two years. Yet it's an incredibly brisk pace to maintain: Amazon stock still needs to gain 140% from its current price to reach that 13-figure valuation. Markets are rarely so steady, investors so faithful, nor competitors so unthreatening year after year.

That's perhaps why Barclays thinks Amazon may become one of the first trillion-dollar publicly traded companies, but not for at least another decade. By 2027, the analysts predict that Amazon may finally reach a market cap of about $910 billion, still about 10% shy $1 trillion.

By then, Barclays estimates that Amazon's revenue will nearly triple to $594 billion.

But Amazon will have tough competition in the race to a $1 trillion valuation, considering there are other contenders whose market caps are much closer to that goal. Here's the short list of companies Amazon may have to beat:

1. Apple has been the favored contender on Wall Street. It's not only the biggest company in the S&P 500 with a $756 billion market cap, but even Warren Buffett has given the stock his approval. The investor's firm, Berkshire Hathaway (brk.a, -0.77%) has purchased billions of dollars worth of Apple's stock. Buffett even predicted Apple was likely to reach $1 trillion before Berkshire, which has a current market value of $412 billion. But to reach that figure, investors will need to push the tech stock up another 32%. While bullish investors point to the company's highly anticipated iPhone 8 release and developments in augmented reality as reasons the company will get there, Apple's generous share buyback and dividend program could slow its progress by giving away funds that could be used to develop new and attractive products instead.

2. Alphabet, the parent company of Google (googl, -0.20%), is the second largest company on the S&P 500 by market cap, having reached a $581 billion valuation. The stock would need to rise 72% to reach $1 trillion, meaning Alphabet would trade at $1,460 a share. Over the last year, the stock has risen 11%.

3. Microsoft, a 42-year-old company that has been around much longer than some of the other contestants in this race, is far closer to a $1 trillion market cap than Amazon. Microsoft (msft, +0.23%) is currently valued at $417 billion—but it will need a 98% boost to reach $1 trillion.

4. Facebook is the fifth largest company by market cap on the S&P 500, with a market capitalization of $412 billion. What Facebook (fb, -0.22%) needs to reach $1 trillion is a 143% boost to its share price of $142. But its recent performance has helped fan rumors that the company may be among the first to reach the target: The stock has risen 23% over the past year.

5. Tesla, Elon Musk's electric car company, is a dark horse whose name has also been thrust into the $1 trillion rumor mill as well.

In fact, it was Musk himself who threw it in the ring while trying to convince investors that Tesla (tsla, +0.14%) acquiring SolarCity was a good decision: The combined giant could one day reach $1 trillion, the Tesla CEO and serial entrepreneur said. Sure, Musk was tooting his own horn, but he's also been shockingly right in the past when it came to predicting his company's trajectory. But it would be a difficult feat to achieve: Tesla would need its share price to grow 2,122% from its current market cap of $45 billion.

Assuming Barclays is in the right ballpark, and Amazon reaches $1 trillion at the very end of 2027, Tesla will need to be going at the breakneck pace of about 33% annually to beat that. Perhaps Musk won't win this contest.