The Ten Reasons Apple Is The Most Valuable Company In the World

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) briefly became the most valuable company in the world today. When it hit $364 billion in worth, it passed long-time leader Exxon Mobil. Over a span of two years, Apple’s market cap has passed the likes of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO). Its rise has been improbable and tells a great deal about how highly regarded the company is with investors. Apple’s revenue is currently about $100 billion. Exxon’s sales are $383 billion. Walmart’s are $415 billion.

There are several reasons for Apple’s stock stellar growth. The first is that its sales and profits continue to grow at double- and sometime triple-digit rates. This is absolutely unprecedented for such a large company. Furthermore, Apple has been able to introduce new products and gain wide adoption for them in a way that is unmatched by any other company in the world.

24/7 Wall St. examined in detail why Apple has been able to reach a market value that should — if most analysts are correct — move above $400 billion this year. These are “The Ten Reasons Apple Is The Most Valuable Company In The World”

1. Constantly Improving Products
Apple has been able to introduce generation after generation of the same product by making incremental improvements to early versions. The Mac was introduced in the 1980s and recent sales hit all-time highs. Macs now come in a wide array of sizes, processors, and software features. Another notable case of Apple’s ability to “recreate “ products is probably the iPod, which was first launched in 2001. There have been over a dozen major versions of that product over the last decade. But the true signature example of Apple’s ability to recreate a product is the iPhone, which is about to be re-introduced, again, with the iPhone 5. While the basic features have remained largely unchanged, each successive version is more popular than the last.