Apple’s Stock Closes the Week at New All Time High – $648.11

By: Kuljit Grewal  |   August 18th, 2012   |   Apple, Business, News

For a myriad of reasons, Apple’s stock which already values the company higher than any other in the world hit a new all-time high thanks to high hopes for the remainder of the calendar year. The upward push was due in large part to wide spread excitement for the upcoming iPhone 5 and the widespread feeling that Apple will announce and introduce the hotly anticipated device on September 12 (TQ was on it).

 

The stock hit a Friday high of $648.19 before falling 7 cents to close at $648.11. The quick rise has been in stark contrast to what the company’s shares (and shareholders) have been experiencing since May. Apple began the second quarter of the year by announcing that iPhone sales had plateaued and followed that up by posting the less than stellar numbers, falling well short of analyst projections.

 

The lull in sales was widely believed to be due to people holding out from buying iPhone 4 and 4S models in order to spend their hard earned dollars on the iPhone 5. The company is also expected to announce their rumoured 7” iPad device, opening up their fantastic tablets to customers at a much lower price point, believed to be around $300 (TQ was on it). The final driver of the share price had to do with Apple TV and its future as a content delivery vehicle thanks to Apple having potential agreements with cable companies.

 

If all goes right for Apple in the upcoming quarter, the company has a chance to do something truly historic. At the moment, thanks to a market capitalization of $607.5 billion the company is the most valuable in the world, however the question must be asked, how close are they to being the most valuable company of all time? According to CNN Money, if the company is able to achieve a share price of $663.68 it would surpass Microsoft’s record market cap of $618.9 billion, which was achieved at the end of December 1999.