Apple (AAPL) stock mania got an emphatic exclamation point Tuesday when the company’s market value exceeded $700 billion — the first time that a company has ever topped that level.
Shares of Apple traded as high as $119.75 to give the company a never-before-seen value of almost $707 billion.
The breathtaking run in the stock is getting to levels that are starting to catch attention. For one thing, the stock has already passed analysts’ 18-month price target on the stock of $118.88. Of course, analysts can and have boosted their price targets as Apple has blown past before, but seeing the stock rise this much is headturning.
Perhaps even more alarming is the fact that Apple is now trading for 18.1 times its trailing diluted earnings per share before extraordinary items. That’s just above the 18.03 valuation the stock hit in April 2012 when the stock fell apart.
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But some big-time investors still think Apple can go higher. Bond manager Jeffrey Gundlach on CNBC Monday said Apple is more likely to be a market leader than a laggard due to the possible success of Apple Pay. “Apple Pay seems to potentially be a big deal,” he said.
Gundlach, though, said he’s not buying because “I don’t like buying things at all-time highs.”
Though Apple broke the $700 billion barrier, it couldn’t quite hold on. The stock closed at $177.70 Tuesday, down $1.03 for the day, leaving the company’s market value at about $690 billion.
Date: November 24, 2014