Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Reuters
Microsoft ended Friday’s U.S. trading session because the most useful publicly traded company, surpassing Apple after briefly topping the iPhone maker during intraday trading Thursday.
Shares of Microsoft climbed greater than 3% for the week, bringing the corporate’s market cap to $2.89 trillion, while Apple’s stock dropped by over 3%, lowering its valuation to $2.87 trillion.
Redburn Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell downgraded Apple to neutral from buy on Wednesday, citing “little room for upside over the following few years” in iPhone growth and an “anticipated underwhelming March quarter.”
Apple said Thursday that former Vice President Al Gore will retire from the corporate’s board next month after serving as a director since 2003.
Microsoft, meanwhile, got a vote of confidence Thursday after discussing its artificial intelligence capabilities to developers at an event in San Francisco. Piper Sandler analysts told clients in a note that they were “encouraged by the momentum around probably the most mature AI products” and mentioned that GitHub website traffic has accelerated yr over yr for 3 months in a row. The analysts have the equivalent of a buy rating on Microsoft shares.
Apple had been the most useful public company for over a yr, following temporary periods when that distinction was held by Saudi Aramco and Microsoft.
WATCH: The AI dark horse
