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Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most valuable company of all? If you’re reading this on your iPhone, iPad, iMac or PowerBook, you probably guessed it. The CEO of Apple (NSQ:AAPL) Tim Cook is proving that life-after-Steve Jobs is just as sweet for investors. Reporting its 2012 first quarter results, Apple’s revenues were 73% higher than last year. Profits were just over $13 billion - with a 45% profit margin. Here is some perspective on these numbers (thanks to Fast Company!):
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Apple made $46 billion in revenue in three months. How? For a start, they sold 37 million iPhones. More iPhones were sold per day than babies were born.
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Apple now has nearly $100 billion in cash on hand. That’s the equivalent of 2,000 tons of gold. Only 66 countries and 52 companies on earth are worth as much as what Apple’s got in the vault.
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Apple earned nearly a third more in profit than Google (NSQ:GOOG) made in revenue ($10 billion).
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Apple shares hit an all-time high of $454. It reached a market capitalization of $418.3 billion, making it the most valuable company in America.
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Apple is worth more than Singapore (GDP $292 billion) and New Zealand (GDP $118 billion) - put together.
When Apple does well, so do its suppliers… Qualcomm (NSQ:QCOM) makes microchips for the iPhone 4S and its stock bumped up 0.6%, while Advanced Micro Devices (NSQ:AMD), which makes components for Mac computers, was up 3.1%. Thank you Tim Cook!
Also beaming like a proud peacock is Netflix (NSQ:NFLX)… Its shares jumped by nearly 16% as it beat all expectations with its quarterly results. The company is recovering from the mayhem it created last summer when it tried to split into two separate companies, requiring subscribers of DVD delivery and web streaming to sign-up for separate accounts. Subscribers are finally forgiving, forgetting and returning to the fold, while a launch into the UK is boosting business rawther nicely.
If bio-tech is your thing, you may be interested in following the fortunes of Illumina (NSQ:ILMN)… The San Diego based company’s shares surged a whopping 46% to $55 as Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche (SWX:RO) made a bid for a hostile takeover. Illumina’s shares have been rising since December based on rumours this would happen. Roche’s shares on the other hand, dropped, as investors expect a lengthy battle over pricing. Roche is keen to firm up its leadership in DNA technology, an area in which Illumina specializes.
And the race is on… Meanwhile, Illumina’s main competitor Life Technologies (NSQ: LIFE) recently announced a new DNA sequencer that can read an entire human genome in less than a day – the cost? A mere $1,000. The goal is to get these thingies out of research labs and into clinics and hospitals where they can be used to help customize patient treatments. Bring it on!
Overall, a great week for techy-diggy stocks…unless of course your name is RIM… what was meant to be a good news story turned into yet another public relations exercise for the beleaguered BlackBerry maker. Co-founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis finally ceded the reigns of power and appointed its former chief operating officer Thorsten Heins as new CEO. To his great peril, Mr. Heins said he plans to maintain the company’s current strategy with no “seismic” changes. Clearly, an earthquake was what investors wanted. RIM shares dropped by another 6% to $16.50, adding to the landslide that’s been going on since March when shares were around $70.
Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Davos, Switzerland… where the glitterati of the economics profession and country leaders are gathered for the annual World Economic Forum. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is glowing after the good old Red & White was highlighted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron as an ideal trading partner to help boost Europe’s economy. “Let us get some bilateral trade deals done,” said the British PM. “With India, with Canada, with Singapore...by the end of the year.” Yes Mr. Cameron, let’s indeed!
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