Apple Reaches Value of Entire 1977 Market

by Alyssa Oursler | September 14, 2012 1:55 pm

We told you before that, when it comes the late Steve Jobs’ growing powerhouse of a company, we’re talking about one very big Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[1]).

Since January alone, the stock has seen gains of more than 70% and its resulting giant market cap made it the highest-valued company in U.S. history[2].

Not too shabby. Now, on the heels of the company’s iPhone 5 announcement[3], the buzz just keeps on coming. AAPL’s gains today sent shares up to a new all-time high of $696.98.

That’s a lot of coin — and a whole lotta value. In fact, Howard Silverblatt of the S&P Dow Jones Index says[4] that it’s actually more than the entire S&P 500 was worth back in 1977:

Apple is trading at a new high of $695 per share (old high was $685.50), with a total market value of $651.5 billion.  When I started at S&P in May of 1977 the entire market value of the S&P 500 was $623 billion (T was #1 with $38B, then IBM, XON, GM and GE — EK was #6 and S, which was Sears, was #7).  It was not until August of 1978 that the index reached the $650 mark (when IBM was #1 with $43B, then T, XON, GM, GE, EK at #6, with S down to #9) — now, 34 years later, one company is $650 billion.  So in October of 2046 will some issue be worth $13.9 trillion? FYI — the Aug,1978 to Sep,2012 full market value growth calculates to a 9.3% annualized rate (I have an app that calculates it – it called a hp12c, circa 1981, when T was back to being #1 in market value).

I don’t know what else to say: Wow.

Endnotes:

  1. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AAPL
  2. highest-valued company in U.S. history: https://investorplace.com/2012/08/apple-bests-13-years-of-market-cap-leaders-aapl-msft-ge-xom-intc-wmt-csco/
  3. iPhone 5 announcement: https://investorplace.com/2012/09/apple-iphone-5-reveal-bigger-faster-available-sept-21/
  4. Howard Silverblatt of the S&P Dow Jones Index says: http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2012/09/14/aapl-now-equal-to-entire-1977-sp-market-cap/?mod=BOL_hps_blog_tt

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/09/apple-reaches-value-of-entire-1977-market/