Apple Inc. stock price passes Google

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CUPERTINO, Calif., April 7 (UPI) -- Apple Inc. reached what was said to be one of Steve Jobs' aims this week when its stock price passed Google's for the first time in the U.S. market.

Apple Inc., traded on the NASDAQ, closed at $633.38 on Thursday. Google ended the day, the last day of trading because the stock markets were closed for Good Friday, at $632.32.

Jobs, the Apple co-founder who died in October, is said to have opposed splitting the stock to make shares cheaper because he hoped to surpass Google in price, The Guardian reported.

During the week, two analysts predicted Apple would climb past the $1,000 mark. Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets said it would do so within a year, while a slightly more cautious Gene Munster of Piper Jaffrey gave 2014 as the date.

The company has continued on a winning streak since Jobs' death with iPad and iPhone sales setting record levels. In January, Chief Executive Tim Cook reported quarterly earnings of $13.06 billion, up more than 100 percent from the $6 billion it earned a year earlier.

That would make Apple the first company to be valued at more than $1 trillion.

But some analysts say that is unlikely, the companies simply cannot keep up the innovative pace. Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners in New York, said five companies before Apple have reached the $500 billion mark, only to see their stock price drop in a few months.