Microsoft sets Apple apart as the most valuable company

Microsoft has regained the title of Most Valuable Company in the World after outperforming Apple’s market cap on Friday.

At the time of writing, Microsoft has a market cap of roughly $ 2.48 trillion, while Apple’s market cap is now lagging slightly at $ 2.47 trillion.

Microsoft’s shares are up about 51% since the start of the year, while Apple is up more than 14% over the same period.

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Microsoft’s victory comes after Apple suffered a rare loss of sales Thursday due to supply chain issues and an ongoing chip shortage. Apple reported fourth-quarter revenue of $ 83.36 billion, falling short of Wall Street’s forecast of $ 84.85 billion. Earnings per share were $ 1.24 and were in line with expectations.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the demand for Apple products was strong despite what he described as “greater than expected supply bottlenecks”. Cook said the delivery problems cost the company an estimated $ 6 billion. The company reported iPhone sales of $ 38.87 billion, falling short of analysts’ forecast of $ 41.51 billion. Despite the failure, Apple’s revenue rose 29% year over year, setting a record for the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Microsoft recently reported net income of $ 20.51 billion, or $ 2.71 per share, for the first quarter, while revenue rose 22% to $ 45.32 billion, in line with Wall Street expectations of about $ 43.97 billion. Revenue for Intelligent Cloud, the technology giant’s largest and fastest growing segment, rose 31% to $ 17 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of $ 16.58 billion. Microsoft also saw sales of its Xbox game consoles and accessories grow 166%.

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Apple and Microsoft have alternated as the most valuable company in the world in recent years, with the latter last holding the most valuable company title in May 2020.

Apple reclaimed the title when it became the first company to reach a market cap of $ 2 trillion in August 2020. Microsoft joined Apple in the $ 2 trillion club in June.

Earlier this week, Tesla became the newest trillion-dollar company, now valued at $ 1.08 trillion.

Fox Business’s Thomas Barrabi contributed to this report