The Most Useful Tech Companies In The Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic, which rocked the world in 2020 destabilized the life routines and plans of everyone. Even as the United States is starting to adjust to post-covid life, the effects of the pandemic will continue to reverberate throughout the world for decades to come. The pandemic has not only killed over 608 thousand people in the United States but also disrupted the nation’s economy. Since February 2020, approximately 9.5 million jobs have been lost in the U.S. according to the job report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 

Many industries have directly suffered from the impact of the pandemic - especially restaurants, airlines, manufacturing, retail, oil, and gas, as most of their operations were brought to a standstill. One industry that didn't seem to perform badly, despite the pandemic is the tech industry.

The potential of the tech industry was maximized during the pandemic in ways we didn't see coming. According to a McKinsey Global Survey, the pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of companies from supply-chain to internal operations by three to four years. Apart from being just a coping tool during the pandemic, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data analytics are the key advancements in the tech world that help us battle the negative effects of COVID-19.

Below, is a list of top American tech companies that were most useful during the pandemic. 

1. Apple

Stock: AAP(NASDAQ)

Stock Price: $133.11 

Market Cap: $2.22 trillion

The first company on our list is Apple. As work-from-home and distant learning were enforced, more people needed to purchase computers and tabs to support their online activities. The pandemic boosted the sales of Macs and iPads by $9.03 billion and $6.79 billion respectively. On top of that, the company sold over 200 million iPhones in the middle of the pandemic. In the December quarter, Apple’s service revenue including the App Store, iCloud, Apple TV+, Apple Pay, and Apple Music went up to $15.8 billion, an increase of 24%. In the same quarter as well, sales of Apple’s wearables and home and accessories saw a surge of 30% to nearly $13 billion.

2. Amazon

Stock: AMZN (NASDAQ)

Stock Price: $3,401.46 

Market Cap: $1.72 trillion

Ranking second on our list is e-commerce giant Amazon. 

Online retail grew exponentially during the lockdown. As physical stores were shut down Amazon offered low-priced product options which you could add to your cart and have delivered to your doorstep coronavirus-free. In return, the online retailing giant helped over 71,000 small to medium-sized enterprises to reach approximately $4.8 billion in worldwide sales. 

3. PayPal

Stock: PPYL (NASDAQ)

Stock Price: $289.60

Market Cap: $340.20 billion

The third company on our list is California-based digital payment company, Paypal. During the pandemic, the need for digital payments increased, like many businesses operated strictly online. PayPal accounts for 22% of transactions in the US.

Paypal is an online payments platform that offers users to send and receive money, pay bills, and donate money anonymously. The company currently has 377 million active users and ambitiously aims to double it by 2025. In October 2020, PayPal announced its new cryptocurrency service which allows U.S.-based users to buy, hold, and sell in selected cryptos directly in their platform. 

4. Alphabet

Stock: GOOGL (NASDAQ)

Stock Price: $2,450.17

Market Cap: $1.67 trillion

California-based tech giant Alphabet is 4th on our list.

Alphabet played a significant role in connecting people and increasing their productivity during the crisis. From developing a contact tracing app to battling fake news spread on search and YouTube, the company’s tools and online services have never been more helpful. Google benefited from the pandemic through its Google Services ($52 billion) and Google Cloud ($3 billion) sales which increased 23% and 46% compared to the previous year as reported in the fourth quarter of 2020 respectively. 

5. Zoom

Stock: ZM (NASDAQ)

Stock Price: $372.47 

Market Cap: $109.75 billion

Zoom offers a video communication platform and is headquartered in California. At the end of the fiscal year 2020, ZM had a market cap of $66.5 billion, an increase of 412.92% compared to the same period in 2019. In Q4 FY 2021, the company recorded $882 million, a year-over-year increase of nearly 400%.

As of April 2020, Zoom had 300 million active users compared to Microsoft Teams’ 200 million participants. Today, the software registers over 3.3 trillion annual meeting minutes. About 90,000 schools registered on the platform in the US, according to this report.

Zoom is one of the best software stocks that stole the spotlight from the biggest video conferencing software right at the beginning of the pandemic where businesses were forced to transition digitally due to lockdown. 

6. Microsoft

Stock: MSFT (NASDAQ)

Stock Price: $265.02

Market Cap: $2 trillion

Being one of the most valuable cloud computing companies in the world, Microsoft contributed immensely to life during the pandemic.

Microsoft’s technology helped millions of businesses, especially in the healthcare sector, survive a challenging year as virtual simulations were conducted through Azure to a real-life experience of NBA games. Intelligent cloud and productivity and business processes products, used by thousands of tech companies and educational institutes for remote learning, were a major source of revenue for Microsoft.