Apple Was America's Third Most Valuable Company ‘Briefly’

According to a report by CNN Money, Apple is now America’s third most valuable company. The burst is due, in part, to Apple’s move to include iPad pre-orders on Friday. At the time, Softpedia reported that Apple’s online store had been taken offline to be updated with the availability of iPad pre-orders, and also speculated that the Mac maker could roll out upgraded computers, although the latter was not to happen.

The CNN Money report claims that, “Ninety minutes after Apple (AAPL) opened its online store for iPad pre-orders Friday morning, a burst of trading — roughly 2 million shares in 30 minutes — pushed its stock price to $227.73 and its market cap to $206.5 billion.”

It adds, “That, and a dip in Wal-Mart's (WMT) share price, made Apple — if only briefly — America's third largest company by market capitalization, after Exxon (XOM) and Microsoft (MSFT) and ahead of Wal-Mart and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A).” The Mac maker closed at $226.6, up 1.1 points (.49%) scoring another all-time high. Apple’s market cap is now $205.48 billion, which is above Wal-Mart by some $309 million, the same report outlines.

Apple’s iPad is making waves in the tech industry even before its public release. Although opinions are quite divided in regards to the tablet device, most analysts believe it will perform well on the market. For example, in February, Retrevo published a new report based on further research in the electronics consumer segment. The consumer electronics shopping and review site suggested that Apple’s iPad was steadily building up some interesting consumer behavior, according to its latest findings. The analysis aimed to show that Apple’s tablet was growing into a game changer.

“As the hype subsides and the media frenzy moves on to the next big thing, the wait begins for the Apple iPad to reach the hands of anxious buyers,” Retrevo said at the time. “Based on the mixed reception the iPad has received it's anyone's guess whether or not Apple will have a hit on its hands. In either case, we suspect there will be some interesting consumer behavior caused by the iPad,” it forecasted.