Apple becomes world's largest company once again. Sorry, Exxon.
Apple surged past Exxon Mobil as the world's biggest company鈥攁nd many investors believe it's still cheap.
on Tuesday that blew past analysts鈥� expectations as the tech juggernaut sold an astounding 37 million iPhones during the last quarter.
At its intraday high price Wednesday, Apple鈥檚 market value reached $423.7 billion, up eight percent from $391.9 billion a day earlier.
That pushed it past Exxon Mobil鈥檚 market capitalization, which was $416.5 billion at its high during the session.
Apple has 鈥�$98 billion in cash, 116 percent EPS growth, and a depressed valuation,鈥� wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope, who raised his 12-month forecast on the shares to $600 from $550. 鈥淥ur target price continues to be based on a 15 multiple on our revised 2012 EPS estimate.鈥�
Along with sporting a quite reasonable price-earnings ratio, analysts and investors also expect to declare a for the first time this year, making the shares even more attractive.
After Apple and Exxon, there is a big drop off in size for the biggest publicly-traded companies in the world.
Beijing-based PetroChina comes in third at about $270 billion, followed by Microsoft, worth $245 billion.
Fourth-quarter iPhone shipments topped even the highest estimate on Wall Street: a 33 million estimate from Jefferies. iPad, Mac, iPod sales all exceeded consensus analysts鈥� expectations, along with the company鈥檚 gross margin, coming in at almost 45 percent.
鈥淭he company trades at 11 times this year earnings, which are expected to grow more than 40 percent,鈥� said Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investment Group. 鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly hard to take the other side of the argument.鈥�
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Apple surpassed Exxon in market value briefly , only to fall back听 as investors worried about the future of the company in the wake of Steve Jobs鈥� death. Others simply sold the stock to raise funds amid a breakout in the European credit crisis.
It could come down to the wire today as to whether Apple can hold the top spot. As of this writing, Apple鈥檚 market value stood at $417 billion, compared to $413 billion for Exxon.
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