Apple Is Now the Most Valuable Company In History 398
derekmead writes "Apple, as of this morning, is valued at $621 billion, thanks to a stock price that spiked at $663.10 per share (and that has risen this afternoon). That finally beats Microsoft, who previously held the record for most valuable company in 1999 at $619 billion. Incredibly, Apple has almost doubled its valuation in the last year, when it topped Exxon-Mobil for most valuable American company with a valuation of $346 billion. It's not the cleanest comparison, but to give you an idea of how much $621 billion actually is, only 23 countries had a GDP higher than that in 2011. So, basically, Apple alone is worth more than what 200+ countries in the world could produce in an entire year."
Re:If this article... (Score:5, Informative)
Everything in the piece is a fact. There is no commentary on why this might be good or bad.
Not adjusted for inflation, obviously. (Score:5, Informative)
If you actually read right to the end of the article, it states that adjusted for inflation, Microsoft is still over $850 billion. So while Apple is a gigantic company, it hasn't broken any records.
DISCLAIMER: I'm neither a PaidMicrosoftShill(tm) nor affected by the Apple Reality Distortion Field(tm)
Inflation? (Score:5, Informative)
Based in 2012 dollars, Microsoft's 1999 value of $619 billion would be equivalent to $851 billion today. Apple still has quite a ways to go.
Worth? (Score:4, Informative)
Let's not confuse what a company is worth with what a company costs.
Bubble (Score:2, Informative)
Bubble bubble bubble.
http://slopeofhope.typepad.com/.a/6a00e009898222883301761756d819970c-800wi [typepad.com]
Gonna blow.
Re:East India Company (Score:5, Informative)
You're actually understating your case — shares eventually reached 1K. Then it became obvious that the company wasn't all that profitable and the shares lost about 90% of their value. Not likely to happen to Apple, of course, but it's a reminder of how investors can go crazy over a sexy stock.
Re:If this article... (Score:2, Informative)
Apple is the only bridge between the technology industry and the consumer market. Thanks to Apple, millions of consumers learned that smartphones can be used to find hip restaurants.
I hope this was intended as sarcasm, because I was finding restaurants in foreign cities using my old "feature phone" at least 2 years before the iPhone even existed.
(And I was quite possibly the last person in any of my circles to get a mobile phone of any sort, so I wasn't exactly on the leading edge.)
Re:200+ countries? (Score:5, Informative)
Here's Wikipedia's list of sovereign states [wikipedia.org]. It lists 206, and separates them out nicely based on claims made against their sovereignty and the like. There are 203 sovereign states that are recognized by at least one UN member state, 2 that are only recognized by non-UN states but that have declared their independence and control some territory, and 1 that has declared its independence but is not recognized by anyone at all, despite controlling some territory.
Re:If this article... (Score:4, Informative)
Apple's P/E ratio is only 15.64. They're greatly undervalued.
I'm not sure how you can say that they are greatly undervalued. Any P/E over 17 is considered overvalued, and a P/E in the range of 10-17 is considered fair value.
So I would say that a P/E of 15.64 is on the high side of being fairly valued, but certainly not greatly undervalued. Greatly undervalued would be if their P/E was below 10.
Re:If this article... (Score:5, Informative)
Apple conducted a study on this.
Among people who wanted to buy an iPhone and choose Android instead:
Conversely JD Power and associates did the opposite survey and found the number one reason people choose Apple was battery life. An area where they are only beaten by 1 RIM model as a matter of fact.
#2 reason was Apple's high level of customer service after point of sale
#3 better integration
#4 singular vision
#5 better sales staff (I'm assuming they mean Apple stores as contrasted with regular carrier based stores)
#6 innovation
I read those and they seem mostly true in both directions. I don't personally agree with the "latest and greatest" and "technology" arguments on Android but I can see where Android customers might view Apple as too conservative.