“Apple’s stock market value topped the $500 billion mark in early trading Wednesday, another record high for what was already the world’s most valuable company,” David Goldman reports for CNNMoney.
“The half-trillion dollar valuation puts Apple in some extremely exclusive territory, making it one of the five most-valuable companies at any point in history,” Goldman reports. “Only Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Cisco and General Electric have ever surpassed that mark.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, um, did any of them do it in the midst of a global recession? No, they didn’t.
Goldman reports, “Exxon did it most recently in late 2007, when oil prices were soaring. Microsoft, Cisco and GE reached half a trillion dollars in market capitalization in 1999 during the height of the tech bubble. Microsoft was the only company ever to have a valuation of $600 billion.”
“Apple’s valuation is now higher than the gross domestic product of Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, or Taiwan,” Goldman reports. “The tech giant’s stock trades at less than 13 times its expected earnings for 2012. That makes it cheaper than the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, which trades at about 18 times forecast earnings. And Apple is wildly cheaper than some of the other tech companies out there with far less predictable futures, like Netflix (NFLX), Zynga (ZNGA), LinkedIn (LNKD) and the soon-to-be public Facebook.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Congrats, Apple Inc.
Jobs well done!
Related article:
Apple shares surge to new all-time high as company’s market value exceeds $500 billion – February 29, 2012
Jobs done well!
Well done Jobs!
Well, Jobs done.
Done well, Jobs.
Done, Jobs. Well?
boy card read good!
Jobs? Well done! (well SOMEBODY had to close the circle)
Probably, Saudi Arabia minus its royal family and other elites.
I was going to say the same thing! The Saudi state owned oil company is worth about 6 trillion. Apple is nowhere near that. They might make it there tho.
“MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, um, did any of them do it in the midst of a global recession? No, they didn’t.”. Agreed. However, I have to at least point out that $500B ten years ago or even 5 years ago was worth “more” than $500B today probably. Apple is AMAZING. But so was evil XON. So I’d prefer to think that Apple is the first non Sith company to reach this feat!
So ExxonMobile is evil, is it?
No more driving for you. Walk you bastard. Walk until you renew your faith in the internal combustion engine. Buy food that has been grown within walking distance. Work at home.
ExxonMobile is evil because it produces the power to run our lives?
When i bought at $11 they giggled, now I giggle.
Me too!
there is a difference between saying automobiles are a good thing versus saying that companies that allegedly try to inhibit production of electric cars and alternative fuel cars and who LOBBY for increased drilling at the expense of the environment, is a good thing. I have no desire to debate this topic with you. It’s a different forum. But I will agree that cars are good… and bacon tastes good too. Mmmm bacon.
Topical!
I used to Google, now I giggle @ Google.
What a stupid headline. It is ridiculous to compare GDP to stock market valuation. Kinda like comparing apples to weeks. A better comparison would be the total value of all the assets in those countries.
Also:
AAPL > MSFT IBM
Looking forward to:
AAPL > MSFT IBM GOOG
😉
the plus signs are missing 🙁
$500billions?
a rounding error!
I had lunch with Ballmer yesterday, and he explained that it’s just a rounding error
Well, Ballmer’s round, and looking more and more like an error.
That comment just won the Internet.
+1
You’re welcome.
To get things in perspective when Microsoft’s market cap was at its height (early 2000) its P/E ratio was in Lalaland at over 58
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Microsoft_(MSFT)/Data/P:E/2000/Q1
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=msft+market+cap
You’ll need to change the history pull down to “all data” to show the peak at 2000.
Sorry to be pedantic, but the MND headline is rubbish: talk about Apples and pears. To compare Apple’s market valuation with a national GDP (the value of a year’s production) is just nonsense. Similar big numbers yes, but measuring totally different things.
+1
Articles like these are getting a little tired. Maybe it puts it in perspective for some that don’t understand large numbers, I guess.
The “Apple is now worth Walmart IBM Whatever x Dell” posts are especially tired.
I know, I know… I don’t have to read them if I don’t want to.
Suddenly I am feeling tired…I don’t know why.
Oh, real quick…
Apple is worth Dell + Iceland x Walmart – IBM ÷ Samsung.
agreed. Plus, comparing a “paper” market value of a company to the GNP of a country (which data is just showing ONE YEAR’s productivity) is meaningless. Believe me, not only could Saudi Arabian royalty buy Apple but in fact some of its princes are shareholders of Apple!
Am I the only one who thinks this vaguely obscene? The world does not need more mega corporations with their dubious agendas having so much power. Forget history at your peril, the Apple I used to admire does not look like this.
MDN is remarkable… the website is reporting TOMORROW’S stock price in their banner at the top… unless their website thinks, just perhaps, this is NOT a leap year???
Well said MDN … ‘Jobs well done’ and then some.