Places Apple amongst top US investments

Apple briefly overtook discount retailer Walmart in market cap on Friday morning, says Fortune. Starting 90 minutes after pre-orders for the iPad opened, a surge of about 2 million shares is said to have been traded in the space of 30 minutes, pushing Apple's stock price up to $227.73. It has since relaxed to approximately $227.

Market capitalization is a function of stock price multiplied by the number of outstanding shares, and Apple's jump combined with a price drop for Walmart is said to have at least temporarily made the former more valuable, with a cap of $206.5 billion. Apple also ranked as the US' third-largest company in terms of market cap, dwarfed only by Exxon and Microsoft, while trumping Walmart and Berkshire Hathaway. Last Friday's announcement of the iPad's ship date has helped to buoy Apple shares in general.

by MacNN Staff