3 tech stocks racing to pass $1,000 a share

? David Mcnew / Reuters / REUTERS

Goran Marberg holds a new iPad at the Apple Store in Century City Westfield Shopping Mall in Los Angeles, Calif.

By Roland Jones

With the stock market nearing record highs, there?s a race on among three technology stocks to speed through the $1,000-a-share checkered flag.

The Standard & Poor?s 500-stock index has more than doubled from its 2009 bear-market low and is trading around 1,400, within hailing distance of its October 2007 record high of 1,565.15.?The widely?followed broad market?index is up 12 percent so far this year.

As the market has rallied it has carried many technology names along with it, including Priceline, Apple and Google, each which are trading well north of $600 a share.?Reaching the fabled $1,000?level would not?necessarily indicate?a company?s stock should be bought or sold,?but it would certainly confer?bragging rights.

?[The $1,000 level] really shouldn?t matter, but people still remember the dot-com bubble,? said S&P Capital IQ analyst Scott Kessler. ?The fact that we are seeing stocks rise to these levels may be a signal of that sentiment again.?

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White made headlines this week with his prediction that?Apple?s share price could hit not just $1,000 but?$1,001?within the next 12 months as it moves into new markets and expands its presence in China.

"The valuation is still very, very modest," said White, who last fall set a $666 target for the shares. Apple currently is trading at about $633 a share, and the company recently announced a $2.65-a-share quarterly?dividend, which should attract new investors, White said.

Of course, Apple at $1,000 a share is far different than Priceline or Google at $1,000 a share.

Apple is the world's most valuable company, with a market capitalization of nearly $600 billion. Priceline, which trades at about $757 a share, has far fewer shares outstanding and is valued at $37 billion. Google is somewhere in the middle with a market cap of $164 billion, although its shares trade at about $632 each, virtually the same as Apple's.

(Prices are based on Thursday's closing levels. Markets are closed for Good Friday.)

Piper Jaffray senior research analyst Gene Munster, a longstanding bull on the world's most valuable company, joined White in predicting an Apple run to $1,000 -- but by 2014. That move would make Apple the world?s first trillion-dollar company by market-cap.

Priceline?is the closest of the three to $1,000 and has seen its?share price soar?61 percent since the start of the year. Google has seen its shares slip 2 percent since the beginning of 2011, while Apple shares have gained 56 percent.

Kessler notes that there are a number of factors driving Apple, Google and Priceline to $1,000, including an improving economy, interest in the technology sector and analysts increasing their price targets on stocks.

The price movements are also likely to increase speculation that these companies may opt to split their stocks, he added.

Stock splits, when a company?s existing shares are divided?into multiple shares -- reducing the value of each share but keeping the overall value of each investor's holdings?the same -- have fallen out of fashion lately, but were common during the dot-com boom of the late '90s, he said.

?They?ll do a cost-benefit analysis,? Kessler said. ?On the one hand it can potentially be a distraction as people try to guess why a company has split its stock, but it also allows smaller players in the stock market to afford more shares.?

It should be noted that there are a number of other companies with stock prices that have risen above $1,000.

Those companies include class B shares of Warren Buffett?s Berkshire Hathaway, which once traded above $3,000 before the company opted for a 50-for-one stock split. It now trades around $80. Berkshire?s class A common shares, however, are now priced around $121,295 each.

Tip of the hat to USA Today, which reported on the confluence of stocks gunning for $1,000 a share.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Which stock will hit $1,000 first? Discuss on our Facebook page.

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