Google may have last week managed to overtake Apple as the world’s most valuable company for the second time this year, but as was the case last time, it didn’t last long. As Philip Elmer-DeWitt noted in his blog, Apple has quickly regained its number one slot …
Alphabet’s just-released Q4 earnings has seen its stock price rise in after hours trading, resulting in the Mountain View-based company passing Apple to become the most valuable company in the world. The company’s market capitalization was $517.6 billion at close, and while the price is still fluctuating after hours, Alphabet’s market cap will be over $540 billion tomorrow if these prices hold…
Apple ranks in at number 5 on the latest Fortune 500, the annual list that ranks US companies by revenue, this time for fiscal year 2014. The company maintains its same position as last year behind Berkshire Hathaway (no. 4), Chevron (no. 3), Exxon Mobil (no. 2), and Wal-Mart Stores (no. 1).
While Apple comes in at fifth place for revenue, Fortune notes that it “boasts both the biggest profits of any company on the list ($39.5 billion) and the highest market value (more than $700 billion).”
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Black Tesla Model X prototype with a trailer hitch and redesigned front end
Quite an interesting statement from Tesla CEO Elon Musk in last night’s earnings call. With all of the “Apple car” talk and fight for employees, it is interesting to note how big Tesla thinks the market for electric cars and lithium batteries will be in the coming decade (assuming 10% yoy growth and P/E ratio of 20).
For the record, I’ve also heard rumblings of an early vehicle program at Apple which could be an R&D exercise or turn into something significant. One of the leaders of the program recently left Apple for Oculus if that’s any indication of what kind of technology Apple is hoping to bring to the automotive world.
Also make sure to read about Elon Musk’s secret demand weapon to deploy on car dealers and new consumer battery product.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvB01EibT2g&start=900]
Update 2/11: After passing $700 billion in market capitalization yesterday, Apple has been trading up as high as $124.43 a share raising market cap over $720 billion.
Apple’s stock price closed up 2.3 points today to close at 122.02 giving the Cupertino company that was on the verge of bankruptcy less than 2 decades ago, the highest market cap of all time. The closing market cap of $710B reflects significant growth since it hit a recent low of a split-adjusted 56 in mid-2013.
To put it into perspective, Apple is now valued at $100 for every man, woman and child on the face of the earth.
Speaking of AAPL, Tim Cook is at Goldman Sachs today discussing Apple’s recent success and announcing a industry first Solar farm that will offset all of Apple’s California electricity use including its Campus 2, offices and 40 retail stores.
And on that note, First Solar, the company that is partnering with Apple on the Solar Farm is up almost 10% on the news.
Apple broke many records with its latest quarter reporting $74.6 billion in revenue and $18 billion in profit with 74.4 million iPhones sold, numbers which greatly surpassed both Apple’s guidance and the even higher consensus analysts predicted, and Wall Street is taking notice.
Following a dismal day for the market yesterday which saw Apple down a few points ahead of its earnings report—it was soon back on the rise in after hours trading—both Apple and the Dow are climbing this morning largely due to those record numbers yesterday. Hovering around 7.5% higher since opening this morning and occasionally crossing 8%, Apple is positioned to cross its previous record high shortly.
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Apple stock ($AAPL) crossed yet another momentous milestone for its financials, hitting $700 billion market capitalization as the stock ticked over $119.65. At a pre-split price, this tallies $837.13. The stock last peaked in late 2012, when it topped out in the mid $650’s. That’s a $50 billion increase from two weeks ago.
Through 2013, the price tumbled over investor doubts about new product categories and Cook’s leadership. In recent months, though, $AAPL stock has returned and surpassed its 2012 highs. The reduction in shares due to Apple’s buybacks program has been more than offset than share price growth, off the back of the company’s strong earnings and forecasts.
As we reported last month, Apple’s stock price has continued to climb repeatedly reaching all-time highs since its 7-1 stock split earlier this year. The company’s stock has been on the rise today as well putting Apple’s market capitalization on track to close at its highest point ever. Previously, Apple’s highest market cap at close was $658.15 billion at the end of September 19th, 2012, and today Apple’s market cap has climbed to nearly two-thirds of a trillion dollars at $663.20 billion during trading.
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In October, Apple stock dropped below 600 for the first time since July. Since then, following a number of new product launches, AAPL has continued to fall and now only sits slightly higher than last week at roughly 550 per share and a market cap of $518 billion. While many have pointed to uncertainty regarding new product launches and executive level changes as the cause of Apple’s falling share price, no one quite has a definitive answer for why AAPL has hit a nearly six-month low. In a report today, titled “A dramatic reading of Apple’s share price”, Asymco analyst Horace Dediu might have the answer.
Dediu studied 13 bear AAPL markets starting with the October 2001 launch of the iPod. As noted in the report, Apple’s stock had just fallen 70 percent year-over-year and continued to drop another 20 percent following the iPod launch. However, since the iPhone launch, Dediu found “every dramatic drop in share price was followed by a surge in earnings growth.” The graph above maps earnings growth following bear Apple markets since the 2007 iPhone introduction.
So, why exactly does this happen? Dediu explained his theory:
Hot off the heels of Apple’s iBook Textbooks and iBooks Author announcement, the Cupertino, Calif.-based Company passed a $400 billion market cap briefly today, AllThingsD pointed out. Apple also saw a new company record of $431 a share this afternoon —up $2 from yesterday’s record. As the afternoon continued on, Apple’s market cap went down to $398 billion again, but it is still close to coming back. For comparison, the world’s most valuable company, Exxon, has a market cap of $417 billion. Apple was at one time the most valuable company in 2011.
As CNN Money pointed out, Apple with a market cap of $400 billion is worth more than the countries Greece, Austria, Argentina, and South Africa.
Apple dominated financially in 2011, and it continues in 2012. Next Tuesday, the company will report what is expected to be record earnings from Q4. Apple is also expected to break past the sales of 5 million Macs and up to 30 million iPhones, some analysts claimed. We will be covering Apple’s financial announcement next Tuesday. Stay tuned!