It's a good thing there are many more individuals in the world than businesses then, isn't it
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Apple Passes Microsoft to Become Second-Largest U.S. Company by Market Capitalization
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Awesome news!
I love Apple. I've been a fan for 17 years and counting. Congrats guys! Now keep churning out the good stuff.
I love Apple. I've been a fan for 17 years and counting. Congrats guys! Now keep churning out the good stuff.
So next is First Contact with Aliens from Outer Space
If you had told me 10 years ago that...
1) We would have a Black President, Barack Obama
2) Apple would be worth more than Microsoft
I would have said you were crazy!
It is almost to the point that if and when Aliens attack I almost would not be surprised!
I am going to WWDC. I guess I picked a good year to go!
P. S. I can see myself having a nightmare tonight of my iPad becoming self aware!
Marcus
If you had told me 10 years ago that...
1) We would have a Black President, Barack Obama
2) Apple would be worth more than Microsoft
I would have said you were crazy!
It is almost to the point that if and when Aliens attack I almost would not be surprised!
I am going to WWDC. I guess I picked a good year to go!
P. S. I can see myself having a nightmare tonight of my iPad becoming self aware!
Marcus
MS Innovation
Its interesting how many people look at this information and say how it proves that MS is stale and lacks any form of innovation. MS has a different business model than Apple, and always had. They have always been more focused on the software in the system than the whole system (MS does not make computers or phones themselves).
MS focus on the software of a system has lead to one of their best recent innovations, the XBox 360. The machine itself is essentially a 6 year old PC. But the software has reinvented the home console gaming experience. They have achieved seamless integration of several forms of media, communication, and multiplayer experience in package that sells well.
This type of innovation is what makes Apple excell at their operating system and iTunes. So, while this news definately proves that Apple is doing something right, it does not necessarily mean that MS is doing something wrong. Yes, they do compete, but they excel for their own reasons (Pippin anyone?) I for one am happy that both companies exist and offer great products. Both Jobs and Gates would agree (look up their joint interviews on YouTube).
Its interesting how many people look at this information and say how it proves that MS is stale and lacks any form of innovation. MS has a different business model than Apple, and always had. They have always been more focused on the software in the system than the whole system (MS does not make computers or phones themselves).
MS focus on the software of a system has lead to one of their best recent innovations, the XBox 360. The machine itself is essentially a 6 year old PC. But the software has reinvented the home console gaming experience. They have achieved seamless integration of several forms of media, communication, and multiplayer experience in package that sells well.
This type of innovation is what makes Apple excell at their operating system and iTunes. So, while this news definately proves that Apple is doing something right, it does not necessarily mean that MS is doing something wrong. Yes, they do compete, but they excel for their own reasons (Pippin anyone?) I for one am happy that both companies exist and offer great products. Both Jobs and Gates would agree (look up their joint interviews on YouTube).
I am sure Microsoft is scared with their 90 percent of the world using a pc. I am sure you could find out the exact percent on apples wonderful search engine since google is dead.
Spokane is a good place to have one. Will serve inland WA and the ID Panhandle. And will give MT folks a reason to drive there.
Sorry, my fault: I should have thrown in the sarcasm tag.
What's written here in this forum shouldn't convince anyone to buy AAPL.
Market Cap is essentially an expression of the investor community's belief in the potential for the stock to grow. So here's some homework: go to Google Finance and look at the stock price charts for AAPL and MSFT for the last 10 years. Microsoft has gone nowhere since the beginning of the 2000s.
Wow, still trying to digest this. Microsoft has 90+% of the very important desktop OS market, and a huge chunk of the enterprise market, yet they're of less value than a boutique brand.
This is a two sided story, I think. For one, Microsoft has become a shell of a company. They have had a handful of new initiatives over the past decade or two, but they've failed to execute on any of them. (Edit: duh, Xbox. They nailed that one.) Most of what we've seen is rebranding of existing product lines and incremental updates.
Apple, on the other hand, should never have gotten this big doing what they do. This isn't entirely a technology story, this is a business management story. They kept their margins viable. While the rest of the world raced towards zero profit margin in pursuit of volume (sure we're making a tenth of what we used to, but we're selling twice as many!) Apple kept their margins sane. They've had the rest of the pieces in place too-- tech, design, cachet, MS backlash-- but keeping their profit per unit such that they didn't need to slit their own throats meant a lot.
For those going on about P/E ratios like they're some sort of fudge factor that the market uses to push their pro-Apple conspiracy: give it up. This is what the market values Apple at. They anticipate that Apple has more room to grow that Microsoft, or HP or whomever. Apple is at about 21 or a bit less. MS and HP are at 13. This simply means that investors expect Apple earnings to grow faster than the other two. Given the number of business changing product releases Apple has had recently, versus the number from the other two, I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation.
Apple will continue to fluctuate up and down. The relative rankings are sure to change once the economy comes out of eclipse. The point here isn't whether Apple makes it to becoming the most valuable company in the US, or holds on to number 2-- it's that they have undoubtedly become a force to be reckoned with. This has to be one of the great turn around stories in corporate history.
This is a two sided story, I think. For one, Microsoft has become a shell of a company. They have had a handful of new initiatives over the past decade or two, but they've failed to execute on any of them. (Edit: duh, Xbox. They nailed that one.) Most of what we've seen is rebranding of existing product lines and incremental updates.
Apple, on the other hand, should never have gotten this big doing what they do. This isn't entirely a technology story, this is a business management story. They kept their margins viable. While the rest of the world raced towards zero profit margin in pursuit of volume (sure we're making a tenth of what we used to, but we're selling twice as many!) Apple kept their margins sane. They've had the rest of the pieces in place too-- tech, design, cachet, MS backlash-- but keeping their profit per unit such that they didn't need to slit their own throats meant a lot.
For those going on about P/E ratios like they're some sort of fudge factor that the market uses to push their pro-Apple conspiracy: give it up. This is what the market values Apple at. They anticipate that Apple has more room to grow that Microsoft, or HP or whomever. Apple is at about 21 or a bit less. MS and HP are at 13. This simply means that investors expect Apple earnings to grow faster than the other two. Given the number of business changing product releases Apple has had recently, versus the number from the other two, I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation.
Apple will continue to fluctuate up and down. The relative rankings are sure to change once the economy comes out of eclipse. The point here isn't whether Apple makes it to becoming the most valuable company in the US, or holds on to number 2-- it's that they have undoubtedly become a force to be reckoned with. This has to be one of the great turn around stories in corporate history.
haha, i was thinking the same thing. These MacRumors people...they just don't really know what they are looking at. I personally don't usually buy stocks with a p/e higher than 10-15. AAPL is WAAAAY overpriced and that fact will come back to bite eventually.
products do rock though 
Woof!!!
All we need is a cruse ship to crash into an Exxon oil platform due to a crash on a windows computer.
All we need is a cruse ship to crash into an Exxon oil platform due to a crash on a windows computer.
haha, i was thinking the same thing. These MacRumors people...they just don't really know what they are looking at. I personally don't usually buy stocks with a p/e higher than 10-15. AAPL is WAAAAY overpriced and that fact will come back to bite eventually.
If you look at the time it takes Apple to double it's net earnings, I would say AAPL is under valued.
Apples earnings are impressive but not impressive enough to warrant such a high stock price. If they were that impressive, the P/E ratio wouldn't be so high. Perhaps if you got in in the 80's or 90's or even early 00's when the stock was low you could make some money but short term investing really only works for the super rich or well connected. For those that don't have millions of dollars to invest, or the amazing foresight to predict AAPL's rise from 2$ to 275$ a share, there are safer more affordable options that offer better long term benefits. AAPL is probably, though not definitely, a fad stock.
I will point out that AAPL is an S&P 500 component.
Pretty good for a "fad" stock. Hell, AAPL has propped up the S&P 500 over the past five years. If you're banking on index funds and ETFs to keep your portfolio from tanking, you better thank your stars there's a "fad" stock like AAPL to offset turds like GE, let alone the automotive stocks like GM and Ford.
Now go read their financials.
Here you go Eric:
URL: http://www.gadget.pdamu.com/2010/05/06/new-microsoft-phones-kin-one-kin-two-has-been-launced/
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Attachments
Next time, don't ignore the question mark, which turns a statement, like in your case, into a question. Last time I checked, MR wasn't FOX Noise.
market capitalization is so fickle, its a bearing on the psychology of the market, nothing else. Net Income, Revenue, EPS...those are more relevant metrics. When Steve Jobs retires, AAPL's market cap will drop 10%+ overnight. If he died instead, I bet 30%+ overnight. Is that a realistic measure of Apple? Ofcourse not...but it will happen.
haha, i was thinking the same thing. These MacRumors people...they just don't really know what they are looking at. I personally don't usually buy stocks with a p/e higher than 10-15. AAPL is WAAAAY overpriced and that fact will come back to bite eventually.
Yeah, but those other companies aren't growing earnings all that fast, especially compared to Apple.
Forward P/E multiples are a better gauge, and with Apple expected to deliver $14-15 EPS this year coupled with $45 in cash, Apple's P/E multiple is only around 14x. I would have to disagree that Apple is WAAAAAAY overpriced. It may not be a screaming bargain, but it's attractive given its opportunities.
Feel sorry for those of us that made a conscious decision to not buy $4,000.00 of Apple shares when they were $2 a share and instead went out and spent it on wine investments. One delivered $8,000.00 whereas the other would have made me $498,000.00. I can live with it, but I would rather not have to! O well.
MS Doesn't have any competition at the moment so there is no reason for them to become "innovative". But one of these years maybe, yes, they will need to start working again.
Everyone I know that uses Windows says "because they have to". This makes things very interesting.
Everyone I know that uses Windows says "because they have to". This makes things very interesting.