Microsoft overtakes Amazon as second most valuable U.S. company.\u00a0Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) regained its spot as the second most valuable U.S. company on Friday after a disappointing quarterly report from Amazon.com (AMZN.O) wiped $65 billion off the online retailer\u2019s market capitalization.<\/p>\n
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) tops the list at over $1 trillion after crossing that threshold in September. Microsoft\u2019s market capitalization was Wall Street\u2019s highest in late 1998 through early 2000 before the dot-com bubble burst.<\/p>\n
Amazon\u2019s shares dropped 7 percent, the most in nearly three years after its holiday season sales outlook missed targets, fanning concerns that Wall Street\u2019s tech darlings are finally starting to face stronger competition.<\/p>\n
Microsoft fell a more modest 1.1 percent in a broad technology sell-off that was also driven by a weaker-than-expected report from Google-parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), leaving the Nasdaq composite index\u00a0.IXIC\u00a0down 1.9 percent late Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
(Graphic: Market cap \u2013 Apple, Amazon and Microsoft \u2013\u00a0tmsnrt.rs\/2ORT0Yq)<\/p>\n
Shares of Microsoft remain up nearly 4 percent from Wednesday, when the four-decade-old software company beat quarterly profit expectations, driven by its cloud computing business that competes with Amazon\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Its stock market value on Friday stood at $823 billion, on track to close above Amazon\u2019s for the first time since April, when it gave up its spot as second largest company by market capitalization.<\/p>\n
Amazon was worth $805 billion on Friday, after falling below Microsoft\u2019s in extended trade on Thursday. The drop was equivalent to the combined values of Target Corp (TGT.N) and Corning Inc (GLW.N).<\/p>\n
Amazon\u2019s tumble left it up around 40 percent year to date, while Microsoft has gained about 25 percent in 2018. On Wednesday, Amazon\u2019s stock traded at the equivalent of 70 times expected earnings, its lowest level since 2011.<\/p>\n
The average analyst price target for Microsoft puts its market cap at $963 billion, while the average price target for Amazon values it at $1.068 trillion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Microsoft overtakes Amazon as second most valuable U.S. company.\u00a0Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) regained its spot as the second most valuable U.S. company on Friday after a disappointing quarterly report from Amazon.com (AMZN.O) wiped $65 billion off the online retailer\u2019s market capitalization. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) tops the list at over $1 trillion after crossing that threshold in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-news"],"yoast_head":"\n