Apple Briefly No. 1: Stock Surge Helps Company Surpass Saudi Aramco As World’s Biggest Company

A 7.1% surge in stock prices on Friday helped Apple (AAPL) briefly surpass Saudi Aramco (2222.SR) as the biggest publicly traded company in the world. The spike in stock prices came as a result of the tech giant’s stellar quarterly results on Thursday.

The surge carried Apple’s stock to an all-time high of $412-a-share. At that price, the company would have a total market capitalization of $1.786 trillion.

Saudi Aramco, an oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, had a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion at the last market close. The company became the most valuable in the world shortly after going public in April 2019.

While Apple's reign at the top was brief, the two companies are close enough in their capitalizations that they could very well trade the top spot back and forth before market close.

Apple’s fiscal Q3 earnings easily exceeded analyst predictions, posting net earnings of $11.25 billion, or $2.58 per share, on net sales of $59.7 billion. Forecasts amid the COVID-19 pandemic were more modest, with predictions of $2.08 in per-share earnings and $52 billion in revenue. Overall, earnings were 18% compared with the same fiscal quarter last year and revenue was up 11%.

“Apple’s record June quarter was driven by double-digit growth in both products and services and growth in each of our geographic segments,” CEO Tim Cook said. “In uncertain times, this performance is a testament to the important role our products play in our customers’ lives and to Apple’s relentless innovation.”

Despite the economic hardships imposed by the coronavirus outbreak, Apple saw strong growth in sales for all of its hardware. Growth was particularly strong for the Mac, up 21.6% from last year, and the iPad, up 31% from last year.

Apple shares were trading up over 7% at 1:36 p.m. EDT Friday at $411.85. Aramco shares were up 0.15% around the same time at $33.00.