Overtaking Apple, Alphabet becomes the Most Valuable Company - But For Now


02/02/2016



In the run to the race for being the most valuable company in the world Alphabet seems to have won the battle but questions are being raised whether it would win the war.
 
Suggesting that the company formerly known as Google could be valued at $628 billion in the next 12 months, the median share price forecast of 31 analysts who raised price targets after Alphabet reported strong results on Monday was $924.
 
In comparison, at the current median price target of $135, Apple, tracked by 49 analysts, would be valued at $748.5 billion.
 
But there is more to those figures.
 
Alphabet is expected to be valued at $734 billion in the next 12 months, while Apple could hit $1.10 trillion, which is evident from a look at the most bullish price targets on the companies' shares. If these figures turn out to be true, Apple would be the first ever publicly listed company in the history to be worth more than $1 trillion.
 
The iPhone maker was "dramatically undervalued" and should trade at $240 per share, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, an Apple investor, had said in May last year.  The company would be valued at about $1.30 trillion at that price.
 
Helped by strong mobile advertising sales, Alphabet easily beat Wall Street's forecasts.
 
Valuing the company at $546.50 billion, making it the world's most valuable company – at least for now, the share prices for Alphabet rose as much as 4.4 percent to $804.50 on Tuesday.
 
On the other hand, there was a fall of 1.2 percent in the shares of Apple to reach $95.28, giving the company a market capitalization of $528 billion.
 
Alphabet separate its core Google business from its so-called "moonshots" in a structural rejig, and which also broke out results for these operations for the first time on Monday.
 
Experts however claim that sustaining the lead could be tough for Alphabet. While companies like IBM have fallen out of the race, the two tech giants have long wrestled for the top spot.
 
After Google launched its own Android mobile operating system in 2008, the two companies which were once allies fell out. There has been a surge of 43 percent in the stocks of Alphabet in the past year.
 
On the other hand the softening demand for its signature iPhone, especially in China, and the apparent lack of another blockbuster product in its pipeline has not augured well for Apple. After the company reported disappointing results, Apple's shares fell last week and have yet to recover.
 
Despite this the iPhone 7 launch in September as planned by Apple could become a catalyst for the shares of the company that have fallen about 18 percent in the past year. The launch could spur sudden growth, say experts.
 
Growth in mobile search and monetization of YouTube could help Alphabet to gain more in  a gradual manner.
 
But analysts are bullish on both stocks and none of the analysts would recommend “sell” for both the companies.
 
In comparison to Alphabet's 22.47, Apple shares trade at 10.59 times forward 12-month earnings and both are valued, among the most expensive in the tech sector.
 
"We think the current re-rating in GOOGL shares is two-thirds of the way complete and is likely to grind to $1000+," Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Sandler wrote in a client note.
 
(Source:www.reuters.com)