Apple has achieved an insane $700 billion market cap

AAPL shares sure have experienced a crazy roller coaster ride this year. Splitting 7-to-1 earlier in 2014, a fantastic run of product launches and announcements since then has driven Apple stock higher and higher. Earlier this month we noted that Apple was now worth more than the entire Russian stock market, and today it has hit a personal-best market cap of $700 billion. This happened as Apple’s share price rose to the $119.65 mark, bringing it to a pre-split price of $837.13. For those keeping tabs at home, not only is this better than Apple’s last high point, when it was valued around $650 in late 2012, but it also represents a massive 50% increase since January this year. The second most valuable company in the world, by comparison, is Exxon Mobile, which has a market cap of “just” $400 billion. While multiple things go into giving a company a valuation of $700 billion, the phenomenal success of the iPhone 6 must be viewed as the biggest needle mover. Not only did it sell an astonishing 10 million+ units in its opening weekend, but analysts are predicting the 6 and 6 Plus will unload an addition 71.5 million handsets over the holidays. The iPhone’s adoption rate had the added impact of driving the App Store to its most successful month ever.