Thanks to the rally that began last week with the publication of the quarterly, Apple exceeded the 500 billion dollar capitalization mark yesterday. The shares have touched the highs for almost 17 months, at 588 dollars (+2,81%).
Since the release of Wednesday's accounts — in which the company also announced a quarterly dividend increase and buyback plan, as well as a stock split — the iPhone maker's shares have gained about 12%, while in the same period the Nasdaq lost about 3%.
The Cupertino giant is confirmed as the company with the highest market value in the world after the oil giant Exxon. The difference between the two is $70 billion. Whether Apple's strength will be able to sustain the broader stock market remains to be seen.
Apple is also preparing for a maxi sale of 17 billion dollars of bonds to finance the buyback, raised from 60 to 90 billion dollars. As reported by the Financial Times, in this way the Californian group will avoid drawing on the 150 billion dollars of liquidity, of which 88% (about 130 billion) is kept outside the United States.
The iPhone maker had already issued 17 billion in debt last year: it was the largest sale of bonds by a company in the world, until a few months later when the phone giant Verizon put 49 billions of dollars in debt.
