Apple world's first company to hit $800B valuation, analysts predict surge to $1T
Earlier yesterday, Apple’s stocks touched an all-time high of $153.25, thus catapulting its valuation to $800 billion in market cap, given that the company has a whopping 5.2 billion outstanding shares in circulation, even as it keeps up its buy-back strategy. What’s more, Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White boosted its 12-month price target to $202 a share, thus declaring that the company is on course to attaining a $1 trillion valuation.
Not only is the company the world’s most valuable at $800 billion but will also be the first to enter the trillion-dollar club.
The 2.9 percent hike in share prices was especially welcome after Apple experienced its first-ever dip in sales—by nearly one percent—last quarter, thus also plunging its revenues for the first time since 2001. CEO Tim Cook claimed that hearsay about the iPhone’s future build and its supposed superior features discouraged customers from buying their latest launch in anticipation of an even better model. He noted that the market had become “overly negative” about Apple since then.
The iPhone 8, expected to launch in the fall, however, does reportedly have significant updates.
The prices following this series of events fell to $89.47. But Brian insists that “the improving sentiment around Apple remains in the early stages of unfolding and the stock offers attractive upside for investors."
The rest of his note, as reported by Fortune, reads, "(Apple is) among the most underappreciated stocks in the world. Apple's valuation has been depressed for years as investors grew concerned that Apple would fall victim to the missteps of consumer electronic companies of the past. However, Apple has proven its resilience through its unique ability to develop hardware, software, and services that work seamlessly together. We believe this positions Apple very well to capitalise on the trend toward more 'things' becoming a computer.”
He continues to give the 'buy' call on the stock.
Financial Times data also suggests that the top valued companies in the world according to their market cap, after Apple, are Google’s parent company Alphabet at $573 billion, followed by Microsoft at $508 billion, Amazon at $423 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway at $441 billion.
Reports have also surfaced about Saudi Arabian officials announcing plans to float around five percent of Saudi Aramco in IPO next year, which is a listing that could potentially raise tens of billions of dollars and would be the world's biggest IPO, thus valuing Aramco at $2 trillion in market cap.