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Has Google 'taken over' from Apple on Wall Street?
Search giant's shares soar as Apple's sour, despite warm words from Warren Buffett
SHARES in Apple plunged to a 12-month low yesterday while Google's hit an all-time high, leading analysts to suggest the internet search giant is Wall Street's new favourite tech company. At Monday's close, Apple's market capitalisation stood below $400 billion, while Google's was $267 billion.
Google's shares have risen by 15 per cent since the start of 2013, as investors transfer their affections from the iPhone to Google's Android operating system. Analyst Eric Kuby told CNBC he believed "Google has kind of taken over from Apple", adding: "It seems to be the big momentum stock right now".
Apple's did came as Warren Buffett publicly advised the computer and smartphone company's boss Tim Cook to "ignore" rebel hedge-fund manager David Einhorn, who is pressing the company to return some of its giant $137 billion cash pile to shareholders.
Buffett told CNBC: "The best thing you can do with a business is run it well. And if you run it well, the stock behaves fine over time". But the tycoon's support did not help bump Apple's share price up.
Analyst Colin Gillis blamed the company's management for the dip, telling the Financial Times: "There's been no news on new products, there's no news on dividends. There's no news, period, from the company".
At Apple's AGM last week Cook acknowledged shareholders' disappointment over the company's sagging share price, telling them: "I don't like it either. The board doesn't like it. The management team doesn't like it."
He said Apple was aware of the competition from smartphones such as Google's Android, adding the firm "don't have our heads stuck in the sand. What we are focused on is the long term". ·
