Apple Is About 4% Away From Overtaking Nvidia as the World's Most Valuable Company. Could It Happen This Month?

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) currently holds the title of the world's most valuable company, and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is close again. As of this writing, Nvidia carries a market capitalization of about $4.7 trillion, some $190 billion -- or about 4% -- ahead of Apple at about $4.5 trillion. Apple closed much of the gap on Thursday, jumping nearly 5% on reports of an expanded iPhone lineup, while Nvidia slipped alongside a broader sell-off in chip stocks.

So, could Apple retake the crown this month? Here's how the two sides stack up.

Image source: Apple.

Nvidia: faster growth, cheaper stock

As far as its business momentum goes, Nvidia is in a class of its own. In its fiscal first quarter of 2027 (the period ended April 26, 2026), revenue rose 85% year over year to $81.6 billion, with data center revenue setting a record at $75.2 billion. The chipmaker trades at about 30 times earnings.

The catch for the crown race is timing. Nvidia doesn't report again until late August, so it has no company catalyst this month -- its share price is at the mercy of artificial intelligence (AI) sentiment, which has turned jumpy on worries about how much the AI build-out will cost. That souring mood is exactly what let Apple close the gap.

It's worth stressing that the chip-stock sell-off is about sentiment, not Nvidia's results. Demand still looks ferocious; data center revenue nearly doubled from a year earlier, and gross margin held around 75%. The worry weighing on the group is whether the big cloud companies can keep funding an AI build-out this expensive, not whether Nvidia is selling fewer chips.

Apple: a catalyst is on the calendar

Apple's edge is a less cyclical business with a durable growth opportunity, as the company is seen as a bigger AI beneficiary deeper into the AI boom's maturity, when on-device AI features become more important. Then there's the potential catalyst of a rumored foldable iPhone that may be debuted this fall.

The tech giant notably reports its fiscal third-quarter results on July 30, with guidance for 14% to 17% revenue growth, and it enters that print with momentum: fiscal second-quarter revenue grew 17% to $111.2 billion, led by a 22% jump in iPhone sales.

Pair a strong report with the buzz around a rumored release of five new iPhones, and Apple has a concrete near-term reason for the gap to keep narrowing.

The risk is what you pay for that growth. Apple trades at about 37 times earnings -- richer than Nvidia's 30 -- despite growing 17% against Nvidia's 85%. In other words, the company closing in on the crown is the more expensive and slower-growing of the two.

This premium valuation, however, isn't hard to understand. Apple's earnings are steadier than Nvidia's. Its services arm throws off high-margin, recurring revenue -- and it carries far less cyclicality than a chipmaker sitting at what some investors may fear is near the top of a spending boom.

Which is the better bet?

I believe Apple has the better shot of being the bigger of the two companies later on this year. It has a catalyst on the horizon -- an upcoming iPhone launch that could include a new foldable phone) -- and a durable business that investors seem to expect to steadily compound for years. Indeed, while there's no way to predict the future, a strong July 30 earnings report set against continued chip-sector weakness could flip the ranking within weeks. Of course, an earnings report could work against Apple stock, too, if it includes some bad news.

But Nvidia stock is hard to pass up. The company's soaring top and bottom lines are nothing short of astounding. In addition, it is the cheaper of the two stocks and is growing nearly five times as fast.

Still, in the longer term, I think Apple has an even greater chance of being the bigger company than it does in the short term. And this boils down to its comparatively lower cyclicality, its loyal customer base, and its optionality to expand into new areas over time, given its global reach among consumers.

Daniel Sparks and his clients have positions in Apple. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.