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Alphabet again briefly overtakes Apple as America's most valuable company

Last updated

Shares hit a 52-week low on Thursday, inching below $90 and allowing rival Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to surpass its market capitalization once again — at least temporarily.

As of intra-day trading Thursday morning, Apple's market cap hovered below $492 billion. The company reached a new 52-week low of $89.47.

Shares of GOOG, meanwhile, started the day on an upward trend, trading as high as $719.25. That was enough to push Alphabet's market cap — briefly —  ahead of Apple's.

It didn't last, however. As the morning wore on, shares of GOOG dipped into the red.

As of publication, Alphabet's market cap had dropped back below $490 billion.

The numbers are a long way off from early 2015, when Apple became the first company in U.S. history to reach a $700 billion market cap. At the time, shares of AAPL were trading at around $122.

By late February of last year, Apple's market cap approached $775 billion, making it twice as large as the then-No. 2 largest company, Exxon Mobile.

Since then, shares of AAPL have struggled. The company is more than $40 off from its 52-week high of $132.97.

Alphabet had also briefly topped Apple earlier this year, in February, after Google outperformed Wall Street expectations for its holiday quarter. Apple, however, reclaimed the top spot in trading the very next day.



34 Comments

jcdinkins 114 comments · 12 Years

Ok.  In big since $50 pre-split (i.e. a long time ago).  In fact, I just bought more at $89.50.  There have been periods during that time where Apple has retracted and it was a full court press (like now) by the media and big money to get this as low as possible.  One thing that is happening with big money is they are having to reallocate portfolios because Apple is not in the "growth stock" category any more.  This is causing some of the heart burn that investors are feeling at this time.  The beat down is beyond ridiculous at this point.  Apple will come back.  Tim Cook is a capable CEO.  At times he can seem apathetic (I will admit), and dealing with a portfolio hit like this is not pleasant.  I do believe in the future of Apple as Tim will press on and continue focusing on making the best products available for consumers.  Long and strong.

techprod1gy 838 comments · 11 Years

Congrats.  It takes way more than that to earn my admiration.  This is merely stretching for content.

ceek74 324 comments · 12 Years

This is GREAT news!  Alphabet has soooo many products, let me name them all. (crickets)

rogifan_new 4297 comments · 9 Years

I expect low 80s soon. As long as the rumor mill is weak iPhone demand and everything else is people complaining about services or overdue Mac updates the stock will be in a funk.

volcan 1799 comments · 10 Years

Where is Sog? I suppose he is still loading up the truck he said he would do if AAPL dropped to 92.