Apple may have more juice left in its shares

Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rallied above $500 for the first time after a two-week gain spurred by the iPhone maker's first-quarter earnings report. Apple increased 1.5% to $500.60 at 10 a.m. ET last Monday. In the S&P 500, Google Inc. (GOOG) and Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN) cost more per share, at $612.23 and $564.55, respectively. Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) is at $502.23. “It reminds us all of the amazing transformation of Apple over the past eight years,” said Timothy Ghriskey, an Apple shareholder who oversees $2 billion as chief investment officer of Solaris Group LLC. “We think the stock has higher to go — $600 is next,” he said. “It's still an inexpensive stock for a company that is executing at the very highest level and continues to innovate.” Apple has climbed 12 of the 15 days since reporting quarterly results. Its earnings are expanding so fast that even with the rally, the shares are trading at less than half their median valuation since 1990, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The gain since Apple reported results is almost four times as large as the advance in the Nasdaq 100 Index. The world's largest company by market capitalization said Jan. 24 that profit in the fourth quarter was $13.1 billion, 36% more than the average analyst projection, while revenue beat forecasts by $7.3 billion, the most ever. The company singlehandedly erased a drop in S&P 500 earnings for the October-to-December period, turning a 4.2% decline into a 4.4% gain. Shares of the maker of the iPod, iPhone and iPad have risen more than 17% over the past month, the biggest gain since August 2009. The stock had risen 22% this year through Feb. 10, compared with an increase of 12% for technology companies in the S&P 500.