Apple’s stock crosses the $600 mark for the first time since 2012

Wall Street continues to respond favorably to Apple’s quarterly earnings, which included an increase in the company’s share buyback program and seven-to-one stock split. For the first time since November 2012, the company’s stock has crossed the $600 mark, reports 9to5Mac.
Apple’s stock climbed after the April earnings conference call and has hovered close to the $600 mark before crossing it today. This is up from the low of $500 recorded in October 2013, but not as high as the $705 following the debut of the iPhone 5 in fall of 2012.

Besides a stock split and more generous stock buyback program, Apple also completed the sale of $12 billion in debt to raise money for its stock buyback. The company decided to raise these funds via a bond sale instead of paying exorbitant taxes when repatriating its money held overseas.
In other good news, a California jury recently found Samsung guilty of patent infringement in a high-profile lawsuit taking place in the Northern District Court of California. Apple was awarded $119 million in damages in that case. The jury also found that Apple’s FaceTime infringed on a Samsung’s patent related to video streaming, but Apple was only ordered to pay $158,000 in damages to the Korean company.
Apple is expected to continue this winning streak into June, when it will hold its annual WWDC developers conference. The company may use the event to introduce iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 to kick off the event.

Posted in: Apple iPhone, News iPhone/ iPod