Apple's Market Cap: Half a Trillion and Counting

Apple?s market capitalization passed the $500 billion mark in Wednesday trading, making it the sixth U.S. company to reach that heady milestone. But how long can it remain there? Of the five other companies to top $500 billion -- Intel, Cisco, General Electric, Microsoft and Exxon Mobil -- none has managed to maintain that value for long. That said, most analysts expect Apple's rally to have some legs, particularly after the expected debut of the iPad 3 next week. And with Apple's market cap now about 16 times that of Dell's, it's time again to pull out that 1997 Michael Dell quote about how he'd "shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."

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