Alphabet Becomes The Most Valuable Public Company In The World
Alphabet Inc. is the holding company for Google and several Google entities, including Google X, Google Ventures, Google Capital, Calico, and its Life Sciences efforts.
The company smashed expectations on both ends, bringing in $21.3 billion in revenue and earnings of $8.67 per share. Analysts were expecting earnings of $8.09 on $20.8 billion in revenue.
And with that, Alphabet became the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world — coming in at a market cap $558 billion after jumping about 8% after the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings, and passing Apple, which sits at a market cap of $535 billion.
There’s a clear narrative here. Alphabet, a software company with a few extra hardware bets, shares have dramatically outperformed those of Apple, a hardware company with a few extra software bets.
This also highlights the U.S.’ dominance of the global economy and the tech industry. All the world’s 10 most valuable companies, including Alphabet, Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT), are based in the U.S., according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ based on the S&P Global 1200 index.
“Our very strong revenue growth in Q4 reflects the vibrancy of our business, driven by mobile search as well as YouTube and programmatic advertising, all areas in which we’ve been investing for many years,” CFO Ruth Porat said in a statement with the earnings report.
In the past year, Apple’s stock has not performed well.
MOST VALUABLE COMPANIES IN S&P GLOBAL 1200
Company, symbol, Market value (US $ billions)
1. Alphabet, GOOGL, $554.8
2. Apple, AAPL, $529.3
3. Microsoft, MSFT, $425.4
4. Facebook, FB, $333.6
5. Berkshire Hathaway, BRKA, $313.5
6. Exxon Mobil, XOM, $309.8
7. Johnson & Johnson, JNJ, $286.3
8. General Electric, GE, $265.8
9. Amazon.com, AMZN, $264.3
10. Wells Fargo, WFC, $250.7
Source: S&P Capital IQ, USA TODAY