Article from SFGate.
“Apple sliced through the competition to briefly become the most valuable company in the world Tuesday, as its market capitalization surged past No. 1 Exxon before settling slightly lower.
The Cupertino company closed the day with its stock up 5.9 percent to $374.01 per share, valuing it at $346.7 billion. Exxon, the Texas oil giant, ended the day with a value of $348.3 billion.
It capped an astonishing turnaround for a company that founder Steve Jobs has said was weeks from bankruptcy when he returned as CEO in 1997 and focused the company on a handful of key products.
Apple’s stock price has gone up nearly 35 percent in the past year, reflecting heightened confidence among investors in its line of computers and mobile devices. In its most recent quarter, the company posted a record $28.57 billion in revenue as sales of the iPhone, iPad and notebook computers soared.
The company’s growth is particularly strong in the Chinese market, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told analysts last month. International sales accounted for 62 percent of Apple’s revenue in the last quarter.
The company is expected to continue growing in the near term, analysts predict. A new iPhone is expected in the fall, and analysts say Apple might also introduce a lower-cost model that would help the company reach a lucrative new market.
Sales of the iPad continue to soar. Apple sold 9.25 million of the tablet computers in the last quarter, a 183 percent increase over the same period in 2010.
“On the iPad side, they’re so far ahead of the market that none of the Android or other tablet competitors have really made much of a dent in their market share,” said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. “‘Tablet is still essentially synonymous with ‘iPad.’ ”
It was less than two years ago that Apple joined the list of the 10 most-valuable U.S. companies. Since then, it has made a rapid ascent, surpassing Microsoft last year to become the world’s most valuable technology company.
Less than a month ago, Exxon was worth more than $50 billion more than Apple. Exxon’s market value declined as investors became pessimistic about prospects for economic growth, which drives demand for oil.”
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