Apple became the first company to reach a market value of $700 billion as its shares vaulted last night amid upbeat news on the US tech giant's gains in the smartphone market and soon-to-arrive smartwatch.
Apple's shares rose 1.9% to close at $122.02 on Wall Street, lifting Apple's market value to $710 billion, and making it the first company to hit the $700 billion milestone.
Analysts said the leading tech company has even more room to grow.
"Given Apple's powerful iPhone cycle, a big 4G ramp in China and the upcoming launch of Apple Watch in April, we believe there is still plenty to look forward to at Apple during this transformational cycle," they said.
Apple shares remain valued at reasonable levels because of the huge $18 billion quarterly profit reported recently by the iPhone and iPad maker.
Using the price-earnings ratio favoured by Wall Street, Apple is valued at around 16 times its annual earnings.
Apple is far ahead in market value from the number two company, oil giant Exxon Mobil, worth some $382 billion at the market close.
The record Apple quarterly profit - on unprecedented revenue of $74.6 billion - was driven by the sale of 74.5 million iPhones, well ahead of most analysts' expectations.
Analysts are also seeing expanded adoption of the Apple Pay system that enables customers to purchase items with a tap of their iPhone, and many predict strong demand for the Apple Watch set for release in April.
