Apple Shares Receive Post-Ruling Bounce; Samsung Tumbles

Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) climbed more than 2% to fresh all-time highs on Monday in the wake of the tech titan’s sweeping legal victory over rival Samsung late last week.

On the other hand, Samsung lost $12 billion in market capitalization in response to the ruling, which requires the South Korean electronics heavyweight to pay Apple $1.05 billion for infringing on six patents. Samsung could also have some of its products banned.

The victory not only gives cash-flush Apple an additional $1.05 billion, but could crimp the business prospects of rivals who now have more reason to fear Apple’s patents when designing phones and tablets.

“While a ban would likely increase Apple's leading smartphone share in the U.S. market, we believe this verdict could lead to Samsung also delaying near-term product launches as it attempts to design around Apple's patents," analysts at Canaccord Genuity wrote in a note, Reuters reported.

Apple’s shares were recently up 1.91% to $675.80 and earlier hit an intraday record at $680.87.

Thanks to the Apple rally, the PowerShares QQQ ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq 100, is on track to close at its highest levels since the bursting of the tech bubble in December 2000.

Meanwhile, shares of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) retreated 2.28% to $663.12 on Monday in response to the Apple win, which could put pressure on devices powered by its Android operating system.

However, the news wasn’t all bad for Apple foes as the markets were betting the legal victory could be a boon to rivals of Samsung, especially if an injunction is granted against some of its products.

That helps explain an 8% leap for Finnish phone maker Nokia (NYSE:NOK), which teamed up with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) on new Windows Phones.

"We think that the real winner hear will be Microsoft and the Windows Phone ecosystem," Nomura analysts said in a note, according to Reuters. "As Android and Apple tear each other apart, Microsoft has been waiting in the wings and is in a very good position to move in and entice users to switch from Android to Microsoft, as we have already seen that user loyalty is low.”

Shares of Microsoft gained 0.61% to $30.74 in recent trading.

Likewise, shares of Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) climbed 2.31% to $7.11 amid hopes the Apple/Samsung legal battle could benefit the struggling BlackBerry maker, which has lost a huge amount of market share to Apple and Android.