Apple, Inc. market cap now exceeds Walmart
Apple and Walmart have been playing stock market tag over the past few weeks to see which company's market capitalization would be higher. At the time of this writing, Apple's market capitalization of $213.98 billion exceeds Walmart's market cap of $211.14 billion -- a difference of $2.84 billion. Currently, Microsoft and Exxon are the only US companies whose market caps exceed Apple's, with Microsoft at $255.75 billion and Exxon at $319.21 billion.The overly simplified way of looking at it: Apple as a company is now worth more than Walmart, the world's largest retailer. Granted, market cap is only one way of gauging a company's financial worth, but considering the pile of cash Apple is sitting on right now, it doesn't seem like a huge stretch to say that Apple's economic worth is at least very closely represented by its position in the market cap rankings.
Some firms are predicting that Apple will eventually catch up to or surpass Microsoft's market cap. While there's currently a $41.77 billion dollar difference between the two companies' market caps, that's not a completely insurmountable gap. Get a load of this batch of perspective: ten years ago, Microsoft was worth in excess of $586 billion, while Apple was worth a relatively paltry $17 billion. In the same amount of time it took for Microsoft to lose almost $330 billion in worth, Apple's market cap rose by nearly $200 billion. No wonder Fortune named Steve Jobs "CEO of the Decade."
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Apple and Walmart have been playing stock market tag over the past few weeks to see which company's market capitalization would be higher....
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If you took all of the money apple is sitting on (I rounded down to $213 billion) and made 4 piles of $100 bills of even height, each pile would be 41 Miles high. The thickness of a $100 bill is 124 micrometers or .000124 Meters.
April 05 2010 at 10:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhy do people comment on business articles with pessimism when they understand nothing of finance?
Review the numbers. It's more than stock price that has experienced astronomical growth for Apple.
Because this isn't a business article. It's just a "wow apple is so great because of something we don't understand."
Apple's growth has been spectacular.
End of story.
TUAW: Please fix your comment system.
April 02 2010 at 10:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyLet's See:
Wal-Mart enslaves it workers for way less than min-wages, crappy to no health care, 3 documentaries on how bad they are for the US economy and general a$$wipes
or …..
Apple a company I know first had takes great care of ti's employees … I used to be one.
Now why does Wal-Mart deserve to be higher than Apple?
Market Cap != Cash.
Market cap = outstanding shares X share price.
Also, you're forgetting that:
1 USD in 2000 != 1 USD in 2010.
Who cares? As long as Apple produces a superior product.
Steve Jobs could die tomorrow as long as Apple keeps making Mac Minis and stuff I could care less.
There should be a separate TUAW page for Apple business related articles. Not all of us Apple users and TUAW readers are share holders.
Apple's market capitalization is based on fundamentals and not hype. Apple's latest P/E (price-to-earnings) ratio is around 23 which is although higher than the average 16, but is normal for a growth stock. For comparison, Microsoft's P/E is around 15, which is a result of that company's significantly slower growth. Google's is 28, which signals even better growth potential. Apple's business grew huge through the last decade. Apple will DEFINITELY surpass MS in market cap within a couple of years if the iPad turns out to be a success because Apple's earnings will grow with it as well.
April 02 2010 at 8:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNo. P/E is not just a measure of growth. It's a measure of percieved risk as well.
Having a high P/E doesn't just indicate that you're more likely to experience growth. It also indicates that your stock is overvalued.
It's expected that the company will have higher earnings, but it's not guaranteed.
On the contrary. Higher P/E indicates lower risk. The fair P/E of a company is around 14 if it is not expected to grow. It goes upwards if the earnings are expected to grow and downwards if the earnings are going down. The investors are willing to pay more for AAPL because they are confident of the continued growth. The P/E of 23 means something like the market expects the company's earnings to grow about 64 percent in the next decade or so.
April 02 2010 at 10:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyA nearly $80 billion increase in market cap in one year is a hell of a lot of "artificial inflation".
How's the weather on your planet?
>> I'm sure there are more, can anyone suggest some?
Um, sure.
Ghosts. The Devil. Cosmic rays. Leprechauns.
When you get serious, so will I.
Shouldn't you be trolling on Engadget?
April 02 2010 at 7:28 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHot Apps on TUAW
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