Apple surpasses $300bn in market value

SHARES of Apple traded at over $330 (€247) per share yesterday bringing the company’s total market capitalisation value to more than $300 billion (€225bn).

Shares of Apple are currently up $7.28, or 2.26%, to $329.87, which gives the company a market value of $302.34bn.

The security’s new 52-week high price of $330.20, printed earlier yesterday, currently generates a market cap at $302.5bn.

Apple is the second US company in terms of market cap trailing Exxon Mobil Corporation. The oilcompany has at $74.67 per share a market capitalisation value of about $376.98bn. Apple shares, which are now up 50.72% since the start of last year, trade at a trailing P/E of 21.76, a forward multiple of 14.65 and a P/E to growth ratio of 0.84.

More than 10 million Apple shares have already traded hands compared to a daily average of around 16.1 million. The median Wall Street price target on the stock is $375.00 with a high target of $500.00

While Apple isn’t expected to announce any major new hardware products this year, the high probability of a Verizon iPhone launch in the spring is widely expected to be a huge success with consumers and investors alike.

Beyond that, the company in 2011 has plans for an OS upgrade for Macs (OS X Lion), a greater offering of cloud services (iTunes music in the cloud) and refreshed product lines (like a second- generation iPad).

Highlighting just how profitable and influential the App Store for iPhone and other iOS devices proved to be, Apple is launching the Mac App Store so that users can have the same easy experience of buying and downloading apps to their personal computers.

Apple is estimated to generate $2bn in gross revenue from apps alone in 2011, according to Citibank’s US Internet Stock 2011 Playbook.