Perhaps new Apple front man Tim Cooks wanted to turn Apple into the highest-valued company in the world. It was not an impossible goal, nor particularly ambitious, because it would only take 26 billion dollars to get there. This number was the difference in stock market valuation between Apple and Exxon. The California tech company presented its greatest quarterly earnings in history this March, which allowed Apple to leap higher in stock rankings and lead the world in capitalization.
The revenues record that surprised the world was soon beat. A buying wave pushed Apples stock price upward until shares hit prices never seen before. When markets opened yesterday, the company's shares jumped 8% to $454.45 dollars. This increase pushed Apple 30 billion dollars higher than two days ago.
Gains dropped slightly by midday, and Apple closed up 6%, although the advance was enough for Apple to contend with Exxon for its position as the largest company in the world by market capitalization. Exxon's market cap is around 415 billion dollars, and Apple's is now 417 billion dollars.
For now, the tech titan will not take Exxon's place on the pedestal in terms of earnings. While market consensus according to FactSet anticipates that Exxon will close 2012 with earnings of around 38.5 billion dollars, Apple's earnings could end up around 33.2 billion dollars.
