Apple's Market Capitalization Sets First New Record High in Two Years at Over $660 Billion

Apple's market capitalization reached a record high today, breaking the $660 billion mark to sit in the range of $662-664 billion for much of the day's trading so far. The new high breaks a previous closing record of $658.15 billion set on September 19, 2012 and intraday high of nearly $661 billion reached two days later. Market capitalization measures the market value of a business and is calculated by multiplying the stock price by the number of available shares.

Apple comfortably leads all U.S. companies in market capitalization, with its closest competitors being Microsoft and Exxon, which have market capitalizations of just over $400 billion each. Fourth-place Google falls sits at roughly $370 billion.

While Apple's share price has been routinely setting new records since surpassing its previous September 2012 high in August, it has taken a bit longer for Apple to return to its record market capitalization levels as the company's expanded stock buyback program has reduced the number of outstanding shares.

Apple's stock has surged 17 percent in just the four weeks since Apple's October media event and subsequent earnings announcement where the company announced strong fiscal Q4 2014 earnings fueled by the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and record Mac sales. The company's share price is up approximately 50 percent over the past twelve months.

Apple last quarter reported $8.5 billion in profit on $42.1 billion in revenue with sales of 39 million iPhones, 12.31 iPads and 5.5 million Mac units. While Mac and iPhone revenue climbed, iPad sales slumped with quarterly revenue dropping 14 percent year over year and 10 percent from the previous quarter. iPad sales are expected to temporarily rebound in the upcoming quarter following the introduction of the new iPad Air 2, with holiday season discounts expected to propel sales of Apple hardware.