Apple Inc. Became World’s Most Valuable Company in Yesterday’s Trading

Wall Street saw an interesting turn of events yesterday when the company that makes iPods and Macs overtook Exxon Mobil in market capitalization to become the most valuable company on Earth.

At one point in yesterday’s trading, Apple’s market capitalization reached $341.5 billion - a tad higher than the oil giant’s $341.4 billion.

Apple Inc. could only enjoy wearing the Wall Street crown for a short period of time, as Exxon shares had a late bounce about a half an hour before the close of trading.

Exxon shares closed up about 2 percent at $71.64. AAPL rose 5.9 percent to reach $374.01. A few weeks ago, Apple traded at a record high of over $400 a share.

Even though Apple is still second only to Exxon, the Cupertino, California giant is still ahead of Microsoft in the technology sector.

In fact, Apple has been the most valuable technology company for over a year now.

And one may think there’s something incredibly complex behind getting to where Apple is right now.

However, it’s not. Aside from having a genius for a CEO, Apple simply has appeal.

Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu said it best in a statement provided in April last year.

Commenting on Apple surpassing Microsoft as the world’s #1 tech company, as well as their ability to profit greatly amid the worst recession in decades, Wu said:

“The reason Apple has been able to do so well is that it produces products that consumers want. That's something that's very difficult and, frankly, something a lot of companies struggle with.”

At the time, Apple had about $40 billion worth of cash and investments. Today, Apple has over $76 billion, more than the U.S. Treasury balance ($74 billion).