Apple Narrows Market Cap Gap With Nvidia to $42 Billion Ahead of iPhone Duo Launch and Q4 Earnings

Apple is closing in on Nvidia in the race for the world's most valuable publicly traded company, with the gap between the two standing at just $42 billion. Apple's stock closed at a record $348.22 on the 22nd, giving it a market capitalization of $5.082 trillion versus Nvidia's $5.124 trillion. A gain of roughly 0.83% would be enough for Apple to overtake Nvidia, which it last topped at the close on July 27. Apple's market value first crossed $5 trillion on October 2. The company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report on November 2 is a key test for whether the rally can continue. Analysts expect earnings per share of $1.98 on revenue of about $113.23 billion. Apple has guided to revenue growth of 9% to 11% year over year and gross margins of 47% to 48%, down from 50.1% in the third quarter, which benefited from tariff refunds worth about 2 percentage points. Investor focus extends to guidance for the December quarter, when the iPhone Duo foldable goes on sale and the iPhone 18 Pro lineup contributes a full quarter of sales. JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee estimates December-quarter EPS of $2.81, about 4% below the $2.92 consensus, and iPhone Duo shipments of roughly 8.5 million units. Apple shares were down 0.26% at $347.31 in recent trading.