Apple Worth More Than Every Company EVAR!

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Based on market capitalization, Apple is now bigger than every company ever, in the whole world (even some combined). So why is the company only 35th on the Fortune 500 list? Because the Fortune 500 list actually ranks your revenue and profits, not stock price.

Apple's stock soared to new heights on Thursday, pushing the company's market capitalization to $456 billion, a number that is greater than the values of rivals Google and Microsoft combined. As of Thursday morning, Microsoft's market cap was around $256.7 billion, while Google was valued at around $198.9 billion. With Apple's stock up more than 3 percent in morning trading, the company surpassed the combined totals of both Google and Microsoft.
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I think some of their products were good, though I never bought any for myself due to the incredible markups. Looks like the stock has the same issue.

If they weren't sitting on billions in cash and had a legion of people ready to buy whatever they create (even a $1,500 42" TV it seems), I'd say their stock was a bubble about to pop.
 
just show you how many mindless shoppers there are in the world.

why did it go up?
 
Fucking insane to think that 8 years ago you could buy Apple @ $40/share, now it's going off for almost $480.
 
The Fortune 500 list is fundamentally flawed. Gross revenue means squat, net profit should be the deciding factor in the positioning of a "top" company. BofA is in the top 10 with a $2 billion+ loss for the year. Fannie Mae is also in the top 10 posting a $14 billion+ loss. I'm sorry but if you're hemorrhaging money, you're not a top earner.
 
For a company that makes only a handful of products that pretty amazing, its able to generate gobs of profit from such a small product portfolio, i don't think any other company is able to pull that off.
 
PiSquared said:
I think some of their products were good, though I never bought any for myself due to the incredible markups. Looks like the stock has the same issue.

If they weren't sitting on billions in cash and had a legion of people ready to buy whatever they create (even a $1,500 42" TV it seems), I'd say their stock was a bubble about to pop.
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While I agree about seeming like a bubble about to pop, I don't think it'll pop. I think that it is going to be like 'Art' where people are willing to buy 'Art' dispite it having little realistic/material value.

Take for example: A painting. The paint itself is worth maybe $20.00 in most cases, the canvas (raw paper) is worth perhaps another $20.00 but can't really be used more than once so once paint has been applied to the Canvas, its fairly 'useless' // 'valueless' in terms of reuseability. A painting can't even be used for firewood due to toxic fumes produced when burning most painting-paints. So the painting, has no real-world purpose.

Still though, people pay from several hundred dollars to millions to hang paintings on their wall that after a few months or even weeks, barely look at or remember its there. Had they spent that same money on a tv or a monitor, they'd actually still be looking at the tv -- theoretically.

With that being said, the art market rarely bubbles except during times of extreme economic downturns that effect the top 1-5%. I'd say Apple products at least having some usability and a larger consumer base (assuming apple consumers come from a larger economic spectrum) is less likely to ever pop.

Some companies, like 'Bose' have been around doing the high-price for low-comparative quality based of design/marketing for 20-40+ years without really bubbling/poping much. The few exceptions to this rule might be companies like 'Monster' where you can only rip people off for so long and/or Monster might show there's a limitation or finite limit in the ratio by which you can overcharge. Overcharging greater than 10x the going rate for marketing/lesser quality, fails to work forever perhaps.
 
It's hard not to laugh at people that say insane stuff like X company is bigger than Y & Z!!! all based on market capitalization. :D

Ask Netflix about "Market Capitalization" lol! Say "Quikster" and your stock drops like a rock...now all the sudden a company that was "golden" ten minutes ago has its market cap slashed 10x. :rolleyes:
 
forcefed said:
For a company that makes only a handful of products that pretty amazing, its able to generate gobs of profit from such a small product portfolio, i don't think any other company is able to pull that off.
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You could say that about the whole dot com bubble, companies making NO PRODUCTS having stock prices going through the roof.
 
Trendy stock pick. Might be good in the near term, but as a long term investment there is no way they stay that high.
 
best part about this thread is even though apple is worth more than double google if apple on day crashed doubtful that half the world would be impacted but if google crashed yea were all screwed
 
I just heard some analyst on CNBC not too long ago (week or two) say he's going to start shorting Apple. I laughed out a good amount of CO2 at that guy. Now I'm thinking,
what is the one bad piece of news that will bring this stock down. Hmmm...
 
Does anyone else find it problematic, and a bit of an indictment on our priorities, that a company that makes high-tech 'trinkets' is valued/coveted so highly? We're not talking about an Intel, Walmart, or Exxon, all of which provide the world with valuable goods and services that are actually necessary; we're talking about a company that gets the vast majority of its revenue/profits by selling a set of devices that are luxury items and iterations of one another: the iPod begat the iPhone begat the iPad.

Truly makes me wonder what this company's worth will be in 5-10 years once Jobs' road map runs its course.
 
WBurchnall said:
While I agree about seeming like a bubble about to pop, I don't think it'll pop. I think that it is going to be like 'Art' where people are willing to buy 'Art' dispite it having little realistic/material value.

Take for example: A painting. The paint itself is worth maybe $20.00 in most cases, the canvas (raw paper) is worth perhaps another $20.00 but can't really be used more than once so once paint has been applied to the Canvas, its fairly 'useless' // 'valueless' in terms of reuseability. A painting can't even be used for firewood due to toxic fumes produced when burning most painting-paints. So the painting, has no real-world purpose.

Still though, people pay from several hundred dollars to millions to hang paintings on their wall that after a few months or even weeks, barely look at or remember its there. Had they spent that same money on a tv or a monitor, they'd actually still be looking at the tv -- theoretically.

With that being said, the art market rarely bubbles except during times of extreme economic downturns that effect the top 1-5%. I'd say Apple products at least having some usability and a larger consumer base (assuming apple consumers come from a larger economic spectrum) is less likely to ever pop.

Some companies, like 'Bose' have been around doing the high-price for low-comparative quality based of design/marketing for 20-40+ years without really bubbling/poping much. The few exceptions to this rule might be companies like 'Monster' where you can only rip people off for so long and/or Monster might show there's a limitation or finite limit in the ratio by which you can overcharge. Overcharging greater than 10x the going rate for marketing/lesser quality, fails to work forever perhaps.
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I agree completely which is why I had some of the conditions in my last sentence. So far, it appears that Apple is picking its upcoming devices wisely enough so that they can get away with amazing margins. Not to mention that their first devices of a product line tend to outclass others.

There's only so far you can go, though, as your Monster cable thought suggests. I wonder if there's truth to the $1,500 24" TV. If so, I predict a flop unless they bring something fundamentally different to the experience than we already have. Simply letting it communicate with their devices (likely) won't cut it.

They can afford a lot of flops, though, which could mean that their stock price may not fine for now if their brand value doesn't take a hit. I'm not taking that bet, though.
 
Ardrid said:
Does anyone else find it problematic, and a bit of an indictment on our priorities, that a company that makes high-tech 'trinkets' is valued/coveted so highly? We're not talking about an Intel, Walmart, or Exxon, all of which provide the world with valuable goods and services that are actually necessary; we're talking about a company that gets the vast majority of its revenue/profits by selling a set of devices that are luxury items and iterations of one another: the iPod begat the iPhone begat the iPad.

Truly makes me wonder what this company's worth will be in 5-10 years once Jobs' road map runs its course.
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Totally agree, these are luxury items not necessities in life.
 
So Apple's shares are over priced just like everything else they sell? not sure why this is news...
 
its crazy. i think microsoft is worth much more then apple and so is google.
 
Deimos said:
So Apple's shares are over priced just like everything else they sell? not sure why this is news...
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lol, people like you kill me. Just because another company fills a phone with shit components and then sells it for less than an iphone does not make the iphone over priced. Let's take a look at some apple products

iphone - 199 on contract, same as any other "high-end" android.
ipad - 499, continued to stay below the price point of "competing" products until they started filling them shit to slog them off at a lower price
macbook air - cheaper than most ultraportables (which are air ripoffs anyway, hell most of what apple's competitors put out is a ripoff. Where were the tablets as we know them today before apple put out the ipad, where were smartphones, where were aluminum body, black chicklet keyboards before macbook/air?) Better product to boot. People buy apple not only because it really is the pinnacle of design and functionality, but also because they've built up a reputation for being extremely good devices that they stand behind. No other company has that kind of recognition. People like you think it's all about the specs, it most definitely is not. That might have been true in the past, but no longer.

Unfortunately for you, most companies still think you're right, and that is the reason why apple is the most valuable company in the world, and they are not. Maybe when they realize that the engineers that created the product can't design it as well, they'll start to approach apple. Samsung has started moving in this direction, unfortunately they still use an OS with a UI that was designed by engineers.
 
I can't help but feel that they are approaching the point where they are going to need to start giving a dividend. If they had done this back when they were in the 200s I probably would have purchased a substantial portion.
 
PiSquared said:
I think some of their products were good, though I never bought any for myself due to the incredible markups. Looks like the stock has the same issue.

If they weren't sitting on billions in cash and had a legion of people ready to buy whatever they create (even a $1,500 42" TV it seems), I'd say their stock was a bubble about to pop.
Click to expand...

I can read that same quote from people back in 1995.

I guess Apple's dead.
 
percydaman said:
Yeah, and they did it off the backs of near slave labor... They should be sooo proud.
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Yeah, and they were all by themselves in that endeavor. Every other computer company hires and employes US manufacturing workers and pays them well.

Not.
 
DyNe__ said:
I can't help but feel that they are approaching the point where they are going to need to start giving a dividend. If they had done this back when they were in the 200s I probably would have purchased a substantial portion.
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Actually, I think it's time for a stock split. Maybe even a 4 way split. Get the price down so even more people can invest. Like me :)

They did this a couple of times, and it was no time before the stock was back up to pre-split prices. People made shitloads of money. Even little people.
 
forcefed said:
For a company that makes only a handful of products that pretty amazing, its able to generate gobs of profit from such a small product portfolio, i don't think any other company is able to pull that off.
Click to expand...

no kidding. And to think of where Apple was in the mid-late 90's, it really is an amazing feat what they've accomplished. Most companies don't get a second chance like that.

everytime I see Apples stock prices, I want to cringe. I almost bought a bunch of stock around 01 but decided against it for some stupid reason :(
 
Jbort1984 said:
best part about this thread is even though apple is worth more than double google if apple on day crashed doubtful that half the world would be impacted but if google crashed yea were all screwed
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not all of us :p

I've actually been slowly trying out alternatives to google over the past several months and it's not as bad as you think. I will always prefer googles search engine (as long as they don't mess with their formula) though.
 
WBurchnall said:
While I agree about seeming like a bubble about to pop, I don't think it'll pop. I think that it is going to be like 'Art' where people are willing to buy 'Art' dispite it having little realistic/material value.

Take for example: A painting. The paint itself is worth maybe $20.00 in most cases, the canvas (raw paper) is worth perhaps another $20.00 but can't really be used more than once so once paint has been applied to the Canvas, its fairly 'useless' // 'valueless' in terms of reuseability. A painting can't even be used for firewood due to toxic fumes produced when burning most painting-paints. So the painting, has no real-world purpose.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesso

People have been 'rooting' their canvas for years and repainting over old stuff. :D

Also, I read your post as iCanvas. :eek:
 
The best part of this thread is all the people mad over Apple's market cap.
 
So why is the company only 35th on the Fortune 500 list? Because the Fortune 500 list actually ranks your revenue and profits, not stock price.
Click to expand...

Countered the cynical sceptic: "Because accounting reports of revenue and profits are more easily manipulated and made to look better than they actually are than is the case with stock prices."
 
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