Few companies are worth $1 trillion. That’s 1,000 billion dollars! On May 1, 2023, just four U.S. companies had that value: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet (which runs Google). During May, however, a company called Nvidia joined the $1 trillion club! Another company’s stock also soared to new highs.

A stock is one part (or share) of a company. The stock price of a company depends on what people think it is worth. If they believe a business is worth more money, its stock price will go up; if they think it’s worth less, the price will go down. Traders buy and sell stocks on the stock market. Each month, News-O-Matic covers two changing stocks. Nvidia and Ryanair both went up in May.

Going Up: Nvidia (Symbol: NVDA)
Inside every computer are chips that process information. Since 1993, Nvidia has worked to build faster chips and better graphics. The company makes products for phones, tablets, gaming systems, and cars. Businesses want more-powerful chips for artificial intelligence (AI). That helped the stock value of Nvidia rise!

At the start of 2023, one share of Nvidia stock was worth about $140. As more tech companies began using AI, the company’s stock price kept going up. The stock price reached $280 by May 1. Then Nvidia said it made more revenue revenue : money made than expected from January through March. That made the stock value surge surge : increased quickly . On May 30, the value hit $405. That made Nvidia worth $1 trillion!

Going Up: Ryanair (Symbol: RYAAY)
American Airlines has more aircraft. Delta has been around for longer. Yet Ryanair is worth more than any other airline! Ryanair flies to more than 200 cities in Europe. That includes its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Ryanair doesn’t travel to the United States, but it still has more routes routes : paths than any other airline. And the low-cost airline continues to grow. In May, the company said it is buying 300 new Boeing aircraft!

There are a few reasons why Ryanair’s stock is soaring. The company’s profit profit : total gain; money earned from selling minus the money it costs to make a product for the past year almost set a record. And as the pandemic ends, more people are traveling to Europe. So, company leaders predict more revenue in the summer ahead. One share of Ryanair cost $97 on May 1. A month later, the value had climbed to $107.

Updated June 2, 2023, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Russell Kahn (Russ)