The U.S. company Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) could take within six months the top position of the oil group Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), leader of the largest companies in the world in terms of market capitalization, writes Thomson Reuters. Apple’s market capitalization amounted to almost 358 billion dollars yesterday (252 billion euros), while Exxon’s was 413 billion dollars (290 billion euros).
Apple could use in the fight with Exxon future launch of the new iPhone this fall and expansion to the Chinese market, and dethrone the oil group, the latest, by mid next year, analysts consider.
The market value of Apple was Wednesday only 55 billion dollars less than the 413 billion dollar annual revenue of Exxon even though oil group’s revenue were four times higher than Apple’s revenue.
In the last month, the market capitalization of Apple rose by 66 billion dollars to 357.8 billion dollars, due to optimism on the second half of big results, possibly marked by the launch of new iPhone 5 and a new online service of music and data storage – iCloud.
The only obstacle to the rise of Apple could be Exxon’s capitalization growth due to higher oil prices, but this outcome is unlikely, analysts say.
Exxon shares were up 14% from the beginning of the year, a more dynamic development than its competitors in the oil sector. The advance was supported by the higher price of crude oil and improving demand for gasoline and diesel in developed economies.
Analysts expect oil group titles to climb 12% next year, in which case the market value will climb to 458 billion dollars.
However, expectations for Apple are much higher. Strong sales of iPhones and solid growth in Asia have recently led traders to increase the price target for shares of the company. Wall Street is expecting that Apple titles will increase by 25%.
“Looking to the second half of this year, we believe that Apple is the hottest portfolio of technology companies for the holiday season and during the return to school,” said Brian White, an analyst at Ticoderoga Securities.
Grabbing first place in terms of market capitalization would be a dramatic reversal of the situation for Apple, a company that, in 2002, when struggling to recover, was assessed by analysts only on investment property and cash.
Apple sold a record volume of 20.34 million iPhones in the second quarter, although the latest model was released a year ago. But, in the coming months, the company will launch the iPhone 5, which will support strong sales and help in the fight with rivals Google and Research in Motion.
In addition, Apple could conclude an agreement with one of the largest telecom operators in China, thus gaining access to millions of new customers. The company also enjoys a very good market position of tablet PCs, with sales in this segment of more than nine million units between April and June, higher than expected.
Apple has announced on Wednesday the new line of Macs based on Intel processors and the latest version of their operating system Mac OS X Lion, with multi-touch options.
All this, plus the rapid growth in emerging markets could increase revenue by 65% this fiscal year, which ends in September, to 107 billion dollars. This year, Exxon earnings are expected to advance by 24% to 477 billion dollars.