Apple Becomes $720 Billion Company: World's Most Valued Company Ever

| Updated: Thursday, February 12, 2015, 20:18 [IST]

Activist investor and major Apple Inc shareholder Carl Icahn recently quoted that the iPhone maker's stock should be trading at $216, far above its record high of $124.92 hit on Wednesday.

At $216 per share, Apple already the world's most valuable company would be worth about $1.3 trillion, or about the size of South Korea's gross domestic product.

The company is valued at just over $700 billion currently. Icahn said Apple should be trading at 20 times earnings per share, which taken together with net cash of $22 per share works out to $216 per share. "It's surreal to think that the same company that was roughly 90 days from going bankrupt back in 1997, is now considered the most valuable company in the world."

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Apple Becomes $720 Billion Company: World's Most Valued Company Ever

Apple's shares have grown 48% since the start of 2014. Tim Cook was recently interviewed over this new broken record, and to his satisfaction he's also added how much the Chinese market has contributed to this growth.

"This is why we continue to own approximately 53 million shares worth $6.5 billion, and why we have not sold a single share," Icahn said in a letter to his Twitter followers.

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In October that Apple shares could double in value and urged the board to buy back more shares using its cash pile. At the time, the shares were trading at $100. Apple had cash reserves of about $178 billion as of December 27, enough to buy IBM or the equivalent of $556 for every American.

Apple said last April it would return more than $130 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015. According to StarMine's intrinsic valuation model, Apple should be trading at $140.90. That implies a compounded annual earnings growth rate of 9.9 percent over the next 10 years.

Apple shares closed 2.3% higher at $124.88 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday. Up to Tuesday's close, the stock had gained more than 22% since October 9.