Apple Hits an All Time High, Market Cap Stands at $170B

Apple (AAPL) shares Friday hit an all-time high, gaining $4.35, or 2.3%, to $194.30. The stock is now up 129% for the year to date - it finished 2006 at $84.84. Apple now sports a market cap of $170 billion. Compare that to Cisco (CSCO) at $166 billion, Intel (INTC) at $162 billion, (IBM) at $150 billion, (HPQ) at $134 billion and (DELL) at $56 billion.

I saw no particular news to drive the rise today; several analysts raised price target on the stock yesterday, citing strong demand for iPhones, iPods and Macs.

By the way: I was in the Apple store on University Ave. in Palo Alto yesterday to buy a new iMac (my second, BTW) and was truly impressed with the level of customer service in the store. There’s a concierge greeting shoppers as they walk in, and a veritable army of helpful sales people practically jumping out of their skin to sell you something. Let’s see Dell do that. I don’t know if that justifies a $170 billion market cap, but it does offer some impressive lessons in how to run a retail operation.

Comments

[Tom B]

"I saw no particular news to drive the rise today;"
I think folks have figured out Apple is somewhat recession-resistant. You need a laptop; you need a laptop. You need a phone; you need a phone. You're not going to be going out to buy a new car or a boat with so much uncertainty in the economy.