Apple shares hit new all-time high – again

59 Comments

Shares of Apple Inc. today blasted through the $160 mark, surging $5.2099 , or 3.33% to close at $161.4499 on volume of 33,087,617 shares to set a new all-time closing high.

Apple’s previous 52-week high was $159.18, set on Wednesday, October 3rd. Apple’s 52-week low is $72.60, set on October 11, 2006.

At market close, Apple’s market value stands at $140,403,452,485.90.

MacDailyNews Note: With Microsoft valued at $279,764,681,280, Apple is now worth more than half that of Microsoft.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Macuser” for the heads up.]

For reference, some selected current market values:
• Google (GOOG) – $185.42 billion
• IBM (IBM) – $172.69 billion
• Intel (INTC) – $149.15 billion
• Apple (AAPL) – $140.40 billion
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) – $131.22 billion
• Dell (DELL) – $63.26 billion
• Sony (SNE) – $50.84 billion
• Amazon (AMZN) – $38.62 billion
• Adobe (ADBE) – $26.05 billion
• Gateway (GTW) – $698.34 million

In after-hours trading, Apple is up another $0.55, or 0.34% to currently stand at $162.00.

AAPL quote via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Note: “I am putting a sell on Apple, the company that created the iPhone,” Laura Goldman, investment advisor, LSG Capital, May 21, 2007. AAPL closed at $111.98 that day. Apple has risen 44.2% since Goldman’s “sell” recommendation.

Related articles:
Apple shares hit new all-time high – again – October 02, 2007
Apple shares hit new all-time high – again – October 01, 2007

59 Comments

  9. @Eric24601…

    You’re only half right… Google’s market cap is $185 billion… Apple is 140b. I’ll help you with the math… That’s $5 billion less than Google.

    MDN magic word: PROBABLY, as in it would PROBABLY pay to look up facts before spouting off.

    Reply

  13. What’s really illustrative about the above market caps, is that Gateway and Apple sell roughly the same number of computers, and yet, Apple’s market cap is 200X that of Gateway. That’s why Apple doesn’t sell in the commodity price area of the computer market.

    Reply

  20. to Puzzled:

    I’m not sure from where did you pull out that GOOG number, but all common financial sites state that today’s market cap at close was $185.42B.

    Today’s share price for GOOG was $594.05 at close.
    GOOG has total of 312,140,000 outstanding shares. Multiply one figure by the other and you get the above market cap.

    We still have some distance to cover before we overtake GOOG, but it is definitely coming.

    Reply

  23. Only the stupid make comments like the ones here about a company’s value when it’s market cap compares to companies with much larger real world businesses.

    So it’s great for you that the price is going up, but comparisons with these other companies market caps should be a warning to you that Apple is overvalued.

    Reply

  28. @Mr. Finance-know-it-all,
    I suppose you think Apple’s projected earnings and projected growth rate have no relationship to its market cap?

    Here’s shareprice to forward p/e if it makes you happy:
    AAPL 29.75
    GOOG 32.66
    MSFT 17.78
    INTC 16.69
    GTW 15.64
    HPQ 14.93
    ADBE 28.73
    IBM 13.77
    DELL 18.77

    What one concludes is that companies with high projected future earnings growth rates are trading close to 30x earnings, while those with low projected earnings growth rates are trading in high teens.

    Reply

  29. I would love to see Apple buy Adobe. I live in ahwatukee in the metro phoenix area and own a business. I am purchasing CS3 premium for seven employees and would love to see it consolidated. In other words, mix imageready and photoshop, illustrator and acrobat; as long as its cheaper!

    Reply

  33. You have to sell to make money. If you are happy with your net gain it would be a nice time to cash in. Nothing only goes up, not even AAPL.

    Greedy can bite back pretty hard. I sold all my shares today for the $160+, some were bought in July for $112 and put the $15k gain aside for the day it drops back to $140 range.

    I love this retirement job.

    MDN Magic Word = job

    Reply

  37. @spark

    the almost continuously increasing value of the AAPL stock is due to:

    1 speculations about great future products (like the iPhone)
    2 followed by very successful launches of these products (new iPods, iPhone)
    3 approaching quarterly reports, that get better and better, Mac market share, iPod and iPhone on a roll etc..

    so, it’s not just speculation, Apple is doing really well, and (MDNWord:Ball) there is a snowball effect.

    my intuition (meaning that i have nothing to back this up), tells me that AAPL is going to rise to 170+ before october 26, then it will wobble a little, and rise again until January 17.

    Leopard will do some good, and maybe speculation about a fabulous new portable mac (xmas or macworld SF), + the more reliable and constant increase in revenue.

    Reply

  38. Don’t sink too much money into this puppy people or you will be sorry! Now MSFT, THAT is a buy if I ever saw one! They have Vista SUTU coming out soon!

    http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
    New Vista Version Coming!
    I told the marketing folk long ago that Vista needed to have five versions not four! But, being the easy-going, no-waves guy I am I let it slide, I let the “experts” have their way.
    RESULTS:
    Anemic, sluggish, weak, poohpooh sales!
    I will no longer sit by and let this continue! Per my executive order 31148V.101 we will add to the Vista line-up – “Vista 2X Super Ultra Turbo-Ultimate”. SUTU (as I call it) will include 33% of all of the modern architecture features that we originally promised for Longhorn 3 years ago but dropped from the final version.

    “Vista 2X Super Ultra Turbo-Ultimate” SUTU includes:

    Dynamic Core Desktop Acceleration – DCDA
    LiveTime Animotron Technology – LtAM
    Windows Interscope Code Manager – WICM
    The zLife Suite of applications:
    StudioBand – Record up to 4 tracks of music.
    zPicture – Your JPG photo manager
    zWeb – Create Beautiful text webpages
    zMelodies – A new skin for Mediaplayer making it a zApp
    zFilm – Video editing for any WMV file

    All of this Tech-goodness for just $699!
    ….. and it comes in a RED box.

    Reply

  39. “I suppose you think Apple’s projected earnings and projected growth rate have no relationship to its market cap?”

    I’m not going to get into the specifics of how to do a DCF valuation of a company, but what you do need to understand is that if your market cap is the same as some massive company, to be fairly valued compared to that company you are implicitly saying that at some point soon, you’re going to start generating as much free cashflow as that company.

    Apple’s share price is based on growing 20% every year for the next 10 years while maintaining high margins.

    That doesn’t just require that they sell more stuff than IBM or Gateway or HP do today. That requires that they sell about half as much stuff as Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer on the planet.

    Realistic?

    Reply

  40. Never ever take NASDAQ’s word for anything!

    If you look at what they think Vodafone (VOD) is worth, it would appear that a mobile telephone company based in Newbury in the UK owns the world.

    Firstly, nothing that interesting happens in Newbury – except the training of racehorses.

    Secondly, Vodafone isn’t worth that much – it would help if there was some data QA at Nasdaq, but the company simply doesn’t have the number of ADR certificates that Nasdaq claim.

    And it’s not an isolated case; according to Nasdaq, Lenovo is worth approximately 15-16 times what it is actually worth in reality. Because they’ve got their panties in a bunch over the number of ADR receipts in circulation and the value of those receipts.

    And the problem with Google is that they only take into account the value of the B-shares and ignore the A-shares (where the real voting power resides) completely.

    Reply

  41. Oh, way to go .

    Apple is now – after extended trading – closer to Intel than it is to HP in term of market cap and only requires another solid few weeks of gains ahead of the annual results to gain the US$8 or so necessary to surpass the company which is probably its key supplier; incidentally, that sort of rise in value would also surpass Nokia making Apple the most valuable manufacturer of mobile phones as well as personal computers.

    The last pseudo-interesting statistic as far as Apple is concerned is its proximity to IBM in market cap terms: IBM is becalmed in terms of valuation at around $172 billion where it has been since July.

    For Apple to get to that kind of value would require a stock price of around $200.00 which is now beginning to look like a realistic goal for the next six months, especially with new product like the iPod Touch (possibly the most beautiful piece of personal technology on the planet – my boss gave me one as a “thank you” yesterday and I can’t stop playing with it) and resurgent demand for Apple laptops (possibly being refuelled by forthcoming Penryn processors).

    Reply

  43. Apple will be above 250 next year this time!
    Next I phone with 3-G will bite a big chunk from all mobile handsets through out the world , Europe did not even started yet, and desk top sales will double. Not to mention all the income from IPod, ITv. and dont be surprised if Apple buys Adobe and locks all graphics control in the web,,,

    Reply

  44. <<Comment from: Finance
    “I suppose you think Apple’s projected earnings and projected growth rate have no relationship to its market cap?”

    I’m not going to get into the specifics of how to do a DCF valuation of a company, but what you do need to understand is that if your market cap is the same as some massive company, to be fairly valued compared to that company you are implicitly saying that at some point soon, you’re going to start generating as much free cashflow as that company.

    Apple’s share price is based on growing 20% every year for the next 10 years while maintaining high margins.

    That doesn’t just require that they sell more stuff than IBM or Gateway or HP do today. That requires that they sell about half as much stuff as Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer on the planet.

    Realistic?>>
    I don’t mean to nitpick posts here, because this feedback area is hardly conducive to an actual conversation; however, I think it’s well understood that at some point Apple’s market cap would be a reflection of their actual earnings. Based upon your comment, methinks you were reading that Motley Fool naysayer article from a good while back, where the PEG growth seemed off the charts to justify Apple’s valuation.

    As for “selling stuff”, it doesn’t matter how much “stuff” one sells, if one doesn’t make much of a profit. Ask Gateway. I don’t quite understand how you’ve gone from using income and its related FCF, to determine value, to revenues determining value. Using the topline to determine value hasn’t been used since the dotcom bubble.

    Reply

  47. “As for “selling stuff”, it doesn’t matter how much “stuff” one sells, if one doesn’t make much of a profit.”

    They point, if you read my post is that all other things remaining equal, in 10 years they need to be generating about 7x as much revenue as they do now, while maintaining the same margins to get to a free cash flow number which would make them be worth their current valuation. Can they do it? Maybe.

    “I don’t quite understand how you’ve gone from using income and its related FCF, to determine value”

    Then take some courses in accounting, finance and company valuation, where you’ll come to understand that every other number and ratio you may talk about only has a meaning because of it’s relationship to discounted free cash flows.

    If you understand that already, you can probably guess that I’m not starting with the revenue number. I’m working back from todays price to see what growth rates and therefore revenue would be required to generate the appropriate free cash flow to value the firm at it’s current price.

    Now if course fanboys are going to dismiss this kind of thing as some sort of anti Apple black magic. But the technique is proven, generic and doesn’t depend on the name of the stock.

    If you don’t understand how the cash flows that any financial instrument is predicted to generate determine it’s value, then you really need to get some basic concepts under your belt.

    Also if you’re looking at accounting earnings and market capitalization today, or even PEG ratios to tell you everything you need to know about the future potential of a company you’re on the lower end of the financial literacy scale.

    If you’re smarter, you’ll realize that PEG is just trying to capture in another way, subject to some limiting assumptions, the increase in future free cash flows.

    But coming back to the most basic principle I’m putting forward, when you see a company with a market cap much larger than it’s much bigger peers in it’s industry, you should have pause to consider why that might be, and unless you can find a way to believe the amount of growth priced in will actually happen, not get too get excited about how you’re thrashing them in terms of market cap.

    So, ask yourself, do you see Apple in 10 years selling 7x the dollar value it does today of Macs, iPods, iPhones, Apple Tvs and whatever else Apple comes up with next while still maintaining a premium position in the marketplace? If so, fine, you’ve intelligently verified the underlying assumptions and should feel happy buying the stock knowing it’s worth exactly what you pay for it.

    Now lets say you want the stock to double. Well then you need to beleive, all other things remaining equal, that Apple will have revenues about 16x larger than they are today in 10 years time.

    Those massive required increases should at least give you pause for thought, rather than just assuming the stock price run up will go on forever.

    Reply

  48. Doing my part: just bought a MacBook (refurb), Airport extreme, and an 80 gig iPod “classic”. The stock hit another all-time high the next day. Coincidence or karma, either way my IRA is fatter if my bank account is lighter. I love how easily the airport replaced my old DLink wireless router and has so much more range.

    Reply

  50. Stock price is also at times a comparison of how investors feel about a company’s prospects in comparison to its competitors. That said, investors are resoundingly saying that when it comes to future potential strength, they’re willing to bet on Apple. But, investors are fickle and can turn on a dime. None of us should be married to a stock no matter how much we love a company.

    Reply

  51. Without getting into the fray, I think part of this discussion of Apple’s share price depends upon whether you’re a fundamental investor, a technical investor, or a combination of both.

    Despite the fundamentals, a stock’s price can rise way beyond any rational explanation (the trick is to get out with a nice profit before the stock comes crashing down, or at least corrects). You can lose money on a stock with sterling fundamentals, and you can make money on a stock with lousy fundamentals. Or you can short Apple now, believing its price is too high to justify fundamentally, but, as the saying goes, “The market can remain irrational a lot longer than you can remain solvent.”

    In the long run, fundamentals rule, and it would be foolish to expect any stock rise indefinitely, no matter how great the stock.

    Reply

  53. <<Comment from: Finance
    “As for “selling stuff”, it doesn’t matter how much “stuff” one sells, if one doesn’t make much of a profit.”

    They point, if you read my post is that all other things remaining equal, in 10 years they need to be generating about 7x as much revenue as they do now, while maintaining the same margins to get to a free cash flow number which would make them be worth their current valuation. Can they do it? Maybe.>>
    Yes, I read your post, and if you read mine, you would know I got it. It’s the exact same point made on MotleyFool a while ago.

    <<Comment from: Finance “I don’t quite understand how you’ve gone from using income and its related FCF, to determine value”

    Then take some courses in accounting, finance and company valuation, where you’ll come to understand that every other number and ratio you may talk about only has a meaning because of it’s relationship to discounted free cash flows. >>
    Dude, you parsed my sentence to leave out the 2nd part. I am not disagreeing with your valuation based upon income or FCF, I’m a little stunned at how you decide valuation is determined by “selling stuff”. Read much?

    <<Comment from: Finance “If you understand that already, you can probably guess that I’m not starting with the revenue number. I’m working back from todays price to see what growth rates and therefore revenue would be required to generate the appropriate free cash flow to value the firm at it’s current price.”>>
    Yes, I already noted that this was an exercise done by one of the Fools at MotleyFool months ago.

    <<Comment from: Finance “Now if course fanboys are going to dismiss this kind of thing as some sort of anti Apple black magic. But the technique is proven, generic and doesn’t depend on the name of the stock.>>
    Yeah, pull out the insults, but I already knew that, from your very first post, where you said, “only the stupid”. Well, the folks here may be “stupid” and “fanboys”, but they aren’t arrogant. You know, creating strawman arguments are lame. Nowhere did I discount any valuation method based upon income, DCF, or FCF.

    <<Comment from: Finance “If you don’t understand how the cash flows that any financial instrument is predicted to generate determine it’s value, then you really need to get some basic concepts under your belt.>>
    Wow, more of the same gibberish.

    <<Comment from: Finance “Also if you’re looking at accounting earnings and market capitalization today, or even PEG ratios to tell you everything you need to know about the future potential of a company you’re on the lower end of the financial literacy scale.”>>
    More insults. Let’s see I was an analyst at Goldman, Sachs, I have my Masters from Harvard and I worked with both Fischer Black and Bill Sharpe. I guess I’m on the “lower end of the financial literacy scale” <much sarcasm>

    <<Comment from: Finance “If you’re smarter, you’ll realize that PEG is just trying to capture in another way, subject to some limiting assumptions, the increase in future free cash flows.>>
    Oh, tell me more, o, didactic one.

    <<Comment from: Finance “But coming back to the most basic principle I’m putting forward, when you see a company with a market cap much larger than it’s much bigger peers in it’s industry, you should have pause to consider why that might be, and unless you can find a way to believe the amount of growth priced in will actually happen, not get too get excited about how you’re thrashing them in terms of market cap.>>
    Well, if you said that instead of that condescending diatribe in your first post, more people would listen to you. It’s not always the message but how it’s delivered.

    <<Comment from: Finance “So, ask yourself, do you see Apple in 10 years selling 7x the dollar value it does today of Macs, iPods, iPhones, Apple Tvs and whatever else Apple comes up with next while still maintaining a premium position in the marketplace? If so, fine, you’ve intelligently verified the underlying assumptions and should feel happy buying the stock knowing it’s worth exactly what you pay for it.>>
    Once again, it’s not ONLY about sales. It’s about income. You once again setup a strawman argument, where you already know the answer, but of course, the point is you asked a loaded question that is not the relevant one.

    <<Comment from: Finance “Now lets say you want the stock to double. Well then you need to beleive, all other things remaining equal, that Apple will have revenues about 16x larger than they are today in 10 years time.

    Those massive required increases should at least give you pause for thought, rather than just assuming the stock price run up will go on forever.>>
    Once again, you seem to assume things I have never stated. Bully for you!

    Reply

  54. Remember moving from 2% of the market to 10% in a big increase. Mac Share

    0% to 10% in phone business is a BIG increase. iphone

    Maintaining a 70% market share in an expanding marking is Huge money!!!! ipod

    THIS STOCK GOES MUCH HIGHER!!!!!

    Reply

  55. “Once again, you seem to assume things I have never stated. Bully for you!”

    Harvard should have taught you the meaning of the word “if” in a sentence. That would have helped you decide if what I was saying in any given sentence applied to you.

    Here’s an example for practice: If you ignore the condition at the front of a sentence yet assume the comment after that applies to you anyway then you need better reading comprehension skills.

    And as to financial literacy in this forum: macboy2010 is just the perfect example of somebody who doesn’t understand that all the growth he see coming and then some is already priced in.

    Reply

  57. Finance,
    I know your first post, which in classic strawman style, didn’t respond to anyone specifically, but attacked everyone in its generality.

    However, your subsequent posts were reponses to mine. What excuse do you want to make up now?

    Seeing as you are giving out lessons on reading comprehension, I would point out that if you are responding to Stockboy, that you say so. Duh!

    Reply

  58. “I know your first post, which in classic strawman style, didn’t respond to anyone specifically, but attacked everyone in its generality.”

    Did Harvard even teach you to read properly and write coherently? Or did Mummy and Daddy have to buy a new wing for some building to get you through? Then did they lean on some friends at Goldman Sachs to give you a job sweeping around Fischer Black’s desk?

    It seems that way.

    Reply

  59. LOL, buddy, I’m from an immigrant family. I didn’t have anyone to lean on to get into any schools, nor did I have any connections to get any jobs. I do have good genes from my parents who have raised 3 doctors, one a famous heart surgeon, in addition to myself. As for you, less said, the better.

    Reply

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