A blowout first quarter has brought Microsoft back into contention in the race for the world’s most-valuable listed company.
The software behemoth is less than US$80 billion away from dethroning Apple Inc. for the first time since May 2020, based on a 2.8% gain in US premarket trading. If the gains hold in regular trading hours, Microsoft will have a market value of $2.39 trillion compared with US$2.47 trillion for Apple.
A blowout first quarter has brought Microsoft back into contention in the race for the world’s most-valuable listed company.
The software behemoth is less than $80 billion away from dethroning Apple Inc. for the first time since May 2020, based on a 2.8% gain in US premarket trading. If the gains hold in regular trading hours, Microsoft will have a market value of $2.39 trillion compared with $2.47 trillion for Apple.
“Sustaining 22% revenue growth at a more than $180 billion run rate provides compelling evidence of solid secular positioning across the portfolio,” Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss wrote in a note.
Microsoft is trading at a 20% premium to the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index, though hasn’t beaten Apple in the market value race since the iPhone maker overtook Saudi Aramco for the top spot in July 2020.
The contest’s next catalyst may be Apple’s fourth-quarter results due Thursday. Analysts have been highlighting the possible impact on the key holiday quarter of reported cuts to iPhone 13 production targets for 2021.-moneyweb
