With $700bn Market Value Comes Great Responsibility: Can Apple Break More Records?

Who knew $US700 billion would look like an apple with a chunk missing? Apple has only been competing against itself for the top spot in market valuation for some time now: Exxon Mobil ($US405 billion) and Microsoft ($392 billion) cannot come close to the creator of the iPhone.

This milestone is definitely something to celebrate, as the company is met with criticism and predictions of failure at every turn. When current chief executive Tim Cook took over from visionary Steve Jobs, very few believed he would be able to continue the momentum. Although Cook still has his critics, the numbers speak for themselves. Apple stock is up 52 percent in 2014, and an incredible 136 percent since Cook took over for Jobs in August of 2011.

The size of Apple, for comparison’s sake, could make it the 20th largest economy in the world, right behind Saudi Arabia’s $US711 billion. And Apple is responsible for a full percentage point of growth to the S&P this year.

So is this the end of Apple’s reign? Could they go bigger? Carl Icahn, the largest activist investor in Apple with a stake of .9 percent, shared at the beginning of October that Apple’s shares are only being trade at half their true price, which was $US101.20 that day. If this truly is the case, Apple’s still got a long way to climb, if it continues to play its cards right.

In celebration of reaching $700 billion market value, check out these 15 records that Apple has set, compiled by The Australian.

1. Apple is on pace for its fourth straight record close today.

2. Since its IPO in December 1980, the market value of the company has risen over 50,000 per cent.

3. From its first day close, the share price has risen 23,100 per cent.

4. At the Nasdaq peak in March 2000, Microsoft and Exxon (the second- and third-largest companies in the S&P 500) were 26 and 13 times larger than Apple, respectively.

5. Apple is now 1.78 times the size of Microsoft and 1.75 times the size of Exxon.

6. Apple first passed Exxon (the largest company back in 2011) in market value on August 10, 2011, and has continuously been larger than Exxon since August 1, 2013.

7. Apple is bigger than all of the following companies combined: Google, Samsung, HTC, BlackBerry, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, Cirrus Logic, SanDisk, Sony, Broadcom and Pandora.

8. While the S&P 500 has not experienced a 20 per cent pullback since March 2009, Apple has experienced a bear market in that time, falling 44.4 per cent from September 2012 to April 2013.

9. The company is now up 113 per cent from its recent bear low of $US55.79 on April 19, 2013.

10. Apple has bought back more than 10 per cent of its stock since September 2012. The share count for Apple has dropped from 6574 million shares to 5864 million shares in that time.

11. At its 2012 peak, Apple made up almost 5 per cent of the S&P 500’s market cap. As of August 19, 2014 — the second time Apple reached its 2012 peak — it made up less than 3.5 per cent of the S&P 500. As of November 20, it made up roughly 3.8 per cent of the index.

12. The stock’s average annual growth rate over the past five years is roughly 32 per cent. If Apple stock continues to grow at this pace it will become a $US1 trillion company by early 2016.

13. Since Tim Cook became chief executive on August 24, 2011, Apple’s market value has risen 100 per cent. Its share price has risen from $US53.74 to $US119.35, up $US65.61 or 122 per cent.

14. Apple is up 27 per cent since its 7-for-1 stock split on June 9, 2014.

15. Month-to-date, it is up 10.5 per cent, on pace to be its best month since July 2013.