Apple Passes Exxon Mobil as Most Valuable US Company
Apple has surpassed Exxon Mobil as the most valuable company in the U.S. The milestone occurred shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday. Apple Inc.’s stock gained 3.4 percent to $365.10 Tuesday afternoon, bringing the iPhone and iPad maker’s market capitalization to about $338 billion. Exxon Mobil Corp. shares, meanwhile, were trading at $69.23, down 1.4 percent. That gives the oil company a market cap of $337 billion.
Apple, which is based in Cupertino, Calif., has a higher price-to-earnings ratio than Exxon Mobil, but not by much. They are both lower than that of the average of the S&P 500 index. In the U.S., Exxon and General Electric had been trading off the No. 1 and No. 2 spots until Microsoft Corp. surpassed them both in early 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom. By 2000, though, GE was No. 1 once again. According to data from FactSet, the three were close over the next five years, though Apple was ascending quickly. Exxon Mobil, which is based in Irving, Texas, took the top spot in 2005 and remained there until Tuesday.
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