For a day, at least, Apple tops Google in market value

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Brief bragging rights: Apple Inc.’s stock market value on Wednesday topped that of Google Inc. for the first time since Google came public in 2004, according to Bloomberg’s calculations.

Apple was worth $158.8 billion to Google’s $157.2 billion at the end of trading Wednesday. Today, however, Google has crept back on top, with its shares up $4.76 to $504.79 at about 12:15 p.m. PDT while Apple has slipped 46 cents to $178.84.

Both of the stocks tumbled in the first quarter of this year from their record highs reached late in 2007, as investors bailed on them amid the broad sell-off on Wall Street. But Apple’s shares have staged a much more impressive recovery since then compared with Google.

At $178.84, Apple is within 12% of its all-time closing high of $199.83 on Dec. 28.

Google would have to rise 47% to regain its all-time high of $741.79 reached on Nov. 6.

Apple’s earnings in the quarter ended in June surged 31% from a year earlier, to $1.07 billion. Google’s profit was up 35%, to $1.25 billion. Both of the companies missed analysts’ estimates (in Apple’s case its current-quarter forecast fell short), but the market has been much more forgiving of Apple than Google since the reports -- suggesting that investors are less concerned about the outlook for sales of iPhones, iPods and Macs than they are about the outlook for Web advertising.

If anyone still cares about price-to-earnings ratios, Apple shares now sell for 34 times this year’s estimated earnings of $5.21 a share. Google’s P/E is about 26 based on expected earnings of $19.67 a share.

Both of the companies, by the way, still far trail Microsoft Corp.’s stock market value of $255 billion.