Daily Management Review

Microsoft Nearly Surges Past Apple As The Most Valuable Company Of The World


10/28/2021




An upsurge in the stocks of Microsoft on Wednesday nearly dethroned Apple Inc as the most valuable company in the world, just a day prior to the iPhone maker reporting its earnings for its latest completed quarter.
 
Microsoft's shares rose 4.2 per cent to a record $323.17, driven by strong quarterly growth in its Azure cloud-computing business on Wednesday, boosting the software maker's market capitalization to $2.426 trillion, very close to the $2.461 trillion valuations of Apple, according to Refinitiv data.
 
Investors are anxious about how the global supply-chain issue is threatening Apple's ability to meet the demand for its iPhones, therefore Apple's stock was down by 0.3 per cent prior to its scheduled disclosure of its quarterly earnings after the end of trading on Thursday in the United States.
 
 
So far this year there has been a rally in the stocks of Microsoft and has risen by as much as 45 per cent as the company benefited from increased demand for its cloud-based services boosted by the fact of the pandemic forcing employees to stay back home.
 
In comparison, the share prices of Apple have risen by 12 per cent so far this year.
 
The market valuation of Microsoft was overtaken by Apple back in 2010 as the iPhone maker was anointed as the best consumer technology company in the world. Over the recent years, the two companies have rivaled each other to be the most valuable company at Wall Street and Apple has been holding the position since the middle of last year.
 
Declaring its quarterly earnings on Tuesday, Microsoft said it expected to end the current year in a strong manner in terms of sales and profits driven by its now booming cloud business. The company however also warned of the performance of its critical business units being potentially hit by continued issues in the global supply chain, such as in its manufacturing of Surface laptops and Xbox gaming consoles.
 
On the other hand, Apple is expected by most analysts to report a 31 per cent hike in its revenues for the quarter ended September to $84.8 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $1.24, according to Refinitiv.
 
(Source:www.latestly.com)