Cisco Tops $500 Billion in Value

Cisco Systems Inc., the No. 1 maker of computer-networking equipment, passed $500 billion in market value, becoming the first Silicon Valley company to reach the milestone. Shares of Cisco rose $3.52 to a record close of $144.38 on Nasdaq, giving the San Jose-based company a market value of $500.8 billion. It’s second worldwide to Microsoft Corp.’s $537.4 billion. Cisco shares have climbed 35% this year and have almost tripled in the last 12 months. Cisco, whose routers and switches direct data traffic across most of the Internet and corporate computer networks, has gained on optimism that it will keep benefiting from surging demand for Internet services.