AP

AP

Q: How much will Apple lift the Dow?

A: Pity the poor Dow Jones industrial average. It has watched Apple stock soar – benefiting the Nasdaq and Standard & Poor's 500 – but not the Dow.

That changes March 18. That day the maker of gadgets replaces telecom giant AT&T in the Dow Jones industrial average, ending years of speculation by investors of when the day would come. Investors assume the addition of Apple will put the Dow on the fast track, but it may not make as much of a difference as many think. Had the S&P Dow Jones Indices added Apple to the Dow a year ago – the famous industrial average would be about 1.6% higher than it is now (on a split-adjusted basis).

That accounts for about 300 Dow points, but with the Dow at nearly 18,000, that's not as much of an impact as you might think. Apple has been a huge stock winner. Its shares are up nearly 70% over the past year. But remember the Dow gives the greatest weighting to stocks with the highest per-share prices. Apple at more than $ 127 a share will have a big weighting, but not the biggest. Five other Dow stocks have higher per-share prices. Remember this analysis is done using split-adjusted numbers. Apple split its shares 7-for-1 about a year ago, some investors speculated, to allow it to be added to the Dow.

USA TODAY markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com or on Twitter @mattkrantz.