It may have seemed like Apple retook its trillion-dollar market capitalization Wednesday morning, when the stock rallied on better-than-expected second-quarter results. But it was more mirage than milestone.
While the iPhone maker is hovering near re-entry into the 13-digit club, along with Microsoft and Amazon, it falls short because of its hefty buyback program. Apple had 4.601 billion shares outstanding as of April 22, according to a filing late Wednesday. The stock’s 4.9% advance to $210.52 on Wednesday equates to a valuation around $969 billion.
Apple reported 4.72 billion shares outstanding in its last quarterly filing. Had the share count stayed constant, Apple would have surpassed the $1 trillion threshold at Wednesday’s intraday high price for the first time since November.
Apple shares would need to trade at or above $217.34 for a $1 trillion valuation. That would necessitate a gain of 3.2% from current levels.