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Whilst the UK was enjoying a bank holiday, Apple and Facebook were celebrating their individual statuses on the Fortune 500. The Fortune 500 ranks the largest U.S. companies by revenue.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) broke into the top 10 for the first time. It became the only tech company in the current top 10 elite U.S. stocks, when it jumped from 17th to 6th with the release of the latest list, ahead of even General Motors, which is in in 7th place. AT&T failed to land in the top 10, but was close in 11th.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) made the Fortune 500 for the very first time. placing at 482nd. Facebook share price has struggled to regain ground after a miserable post-IPO performance in May 2012, losing 50% of its initial offering price of $38.00. It has performed better in 2013, dancing around the $30.00 mark. FB closed down 2.6% today, finishing at 27.57 with the closing bell. Last Wednesday, 01 May 2013, Facebook announced its first quarter results, posting a profit of $219 million, up from $205 million year-on-year. Total revenue for the quarter increased to $1.46 billion, up 38% from 2012.
Mobile advertising boosted Facebook’s revenues, accounting for 30% of the overall amount. The was a 7% gain over the fourth quarter of 2012. Advertising revenues as an aggregate grew 43%. Still, Trefis analysts say that an estimated 88% of investors remain bearish about Facebook as the social-media company us becoming more and more dependent on advertising, as the growth of actual Facebook users is beginning to slow after reaching 766 million in 2011.
As I see it, the problem is that Facebook is still an enigma for investors, and, despite that fact that it has been around for awhile, there is still a substantial amount of uncertainty about whether it will become just another passing fancy of the digital age as some other form of social media or diversion takes its place. Has anyone seen my cassette tapes?
As far as Apple is concerned, the bears might start to become a littl more bullish if Apple’s share price continues to rise on the NASDAQ as it has since last month. It has managed to climb back above the 450.00 mark, closing today at 460.71, up 2.4% from Friday.
Bill Gates told CNBC today that “With tech companies, the leader is always questioned” as the questioners are thinking “Is this the end of them?” He said that “More times people think that’s the case than it is really the case.” Gates believes that people are simply insecure, having seen so many tech failures. He points out that the strong tech companies tend to be forgotten when one company’s share price slides. Having broken into the top 10 of the Fortune 500, today was probably a good day for him to remind us.
