The market value of Samsung Electronics’ listed stocks was worth $201.5 billion as of last week, which was about 40 percent of the value of Apple Inc.’s listed shares.
These figures reflected a 13 percentage point increase compared to the end of August this year, according to KB Investment and Securities. At the same time, Apple’s worth was undermined, with its market capitalization now 2.5 times that of Samsung, down from when the iPhone maker’s stocks were worth four times the South Korean company’s shares.
In particular, Samsung Electronics’ market cap showed the biggest increase between August, when its stock price started to rise, up to this month.
In that month a U.S. court ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion for infringing the U.S. company’s critical patents.
In September, Apple’s share prices surpassed $700 on the back of the news, but stock value soon started to slip, falling to around $520 per share as of the middle of November.
“Apple’s stock prices have shed 19.6 percent since the U.S. jury reached its verdict on Aug. 24, while Samsung Electronics’ stocks have risen by 16.1 percent. This gap indicates that an unprecedented disparity in competitiveness is being created between the two firms,” said Song Myong-sup, a researcher for Hi Investment and Securities.
Public dissatisfaction with Apple’s new smart device lineup, such as the much-delayed iPhone 5 and the iPad mini, appears to have driven down the prices, industry watchers said. Information about the features of these new devices was also leaked prematurely into the market, dampening customer anticipation, they added.
Apple currently is calling for a U.S. judge to ban Samsung products from shelves for copying its designs, but a trial hearing that opened this week hinted that the tables may be turned, at least partially, as the judge said there was a possibility that the damages award that Samsung was ordered to pay out to Apple was miscalculated.
Experts have predicted that while overturning the verdict completely would be difficult, there could be alterations made to the damages award.
Both Samsung and Apple, now the top two rivals in the global IT industry, have vowed not to back down in the patent battle.
On Tuesday, Samsung shares closed at 1.476 million won ($1,370), down 15,000 won from the previous day’s trading.
By Kim Ji-hyun (
jemmie@heraldcorp.com)
