#Apple briefly overtakes Saudi Aramco as world’s most valuable company

Apple’s stock hit a record high on Friday after reporting blockbuster quarterly results, helping the iPhone maker briefly overtake Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company.

Apple’s stock surged to as high as $412.22 a share, putting its market capitalization at $1.762 trillion, according to the share count provided by Apple in a regulatory filing on Friday.

Saudi Aramco, which has been the most valuable publicly listed company since going public last year, had a market capitalization of $1.760 trillion as of its last close, according to Refinitiv data.

Last up 6.2 percent at $408.78 in midday trading, Apple’s market capitalization stood at $1.748 trillion. After Apple bought back $16 billion worth of shares in the June quarter, it had 4,275,634,000 outstanding shares, as of July 17, according to the filing.

With Friday’s stock gain, Apple’s has surged about 40 percent year to date, with investors betting that it and other major US technology companies will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic stronger than smaller rivals.

In its quarterly report, Apple announced a four-for-one stock split, with trading on a split-adjusted basis starting on Aug. 31. It will be Apple’s first share split since 2014.