AAPL closes above $500, sets new all-time record
updated 07:00 pm EST, Mon February 13, 2012
Milestone puts further value in market cap
Having broken the $500 barrier earlier in the day, shares of AAPL closed today at a new all-time record high of $502.60, though the stock is fluctuating around the closing figure in after-hours trading. The milestone puts Apple even further ahead of ExxonMobile as the world's most valued publicly-traded company with a new market capitalization of $468.61 billion while still maintaining a low price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 14.30.
The last two weeks have seen almost-daily record highs for the stock since the company announced all-time-best sales and revenues on all three of its major product lines, with better-than-expected numbers across the board even though analysts had been advised by CFO Peter Oppenheimer that the holiday season was going to be Apple's best ever earlier in the year.
The stock had already jumped $6.32 per share over the weekend and opened on Monday at $499.74. It reached an intra-day high of $503.83 before settling on a closing-bell price of $502.60. Apple is now the top tech brand, and the company is now responsible for about one-fifth of all technology-product sales in the US, a new study has shown.
The stock is likely to continue its rise in light of expected announcements about the iPad, with the rumor mill pegging the debut of the latest model on March 7th. As of 7 p.m. Eastern time, AAPL was at $503 in after-hours trading.
