Fueled by the popularity of its new products, such as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) market capitalization soared to a record $700 billion in intraday trading Tuesday, a milestone that no other U.S. company has reached. By close on Tuesday, Apple's market cap had fallen to $690 billion, but that still makes the company significantly more valuable than Exxon Mobile, which is No. 2 in market cap, at $401 billion.
Apple's latest iPhones, which were announced in September, have been a hit with consumers. In fact, earlier this week KGI Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a strong track record in predicting Apple sales, said he thinks the company is on track to sell a record 71.5 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of 2014. If Apple fulfills Kuo's predictions, it would represent a 40 percent jump from the 51 million units Apple sold in the fourth quarter of last year.
During the company's most recent quarter, Apple sold 39.27 million iPhones, more than the 33.79 million units it sold in the year-ago quarter and above analyst expectations of around 37.8 million unit sales.
Interestingly, according to Fortune, using data compiled by the World Bank, Apple's market cap is higher than the gross domestic product of all but 19 of the world's countries.
For more:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Fortune article
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