Apple market cap records $800 billion for the first time
Apple’s stock continues to record new highs — and on Monday, investors pushed Apple’s total market value to over $800 billion.
Apple shares briefly surpassed a price of $153.44 a share, and with Apple’s 5.214 billion shares outstanding, according to its latest quarterly report, that makes its total market capitalization just over $800 billion.
Shares hit a high of $153.70 on Monday, before closing at $153 a share, up 2.7 percent.
The iPhone maker reported mixed quarterly earnings last week, selling fewer phones than expected, though at more expensive prices. But chief executive Tim Cook attributed some of the slowdown to the fact that consumers are holding out for the next launch, anticipated in September.
Wall Street seems to agree — analysts have upped the stock’s 12-month price target nearly 30 times so far this May, according to FactSet. Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White released Apple’s highest price target on the Street on Monday, which at $202 a share would put Apple over the $1 trillion mark this year.
While that number may seem eye-popping, the company is already 80 percent of the way there — at least in the view of investors, who consider the company’s future earnings and cash, as much as its current product line up.
“What we’re starting to see here are dark clouds around this valuation of Apple — which has been with the company for several years — starting to part ways,” White told CNBC’s “Fast Money: Halftime Report” on Monday.
Despite the company’s record-high market capitalization, the iPhone 8, repatriation of foreign cash and new innovations on the horizon could fuel more upside for Apple shares, White said. Plus, the company’s weak performance in China could be turning a corner, White predicts.
Shares of Apple popped on Monday, after famed investor Warren Buffett also praised the company, calling the iPhone “a very, very, very valuable product.”
Apple is also one of many technology companies that have been buoyed by a recent rally in the stock market. The Nasdaq 100, for example, closed at an all-time high on Friday.
“Our numbers are actually pretty conservative going into what I think will be a big cycle,” White said.
Source: CNBC
