Nvidia on Tuesday reclaimed its status as the most valuable company in the world from Apple, who surpassed it on Friday but promptly relinquished the title as the iPhone maker’s shares fell on a weak gross margin forecast despite fourth-quarter earnings that largely beat estimates.
Key Facts
Nvidia hit a market capitalization of $5.02 trillion on Tuesday as shares traded up around 3% at 11:55 a.m. EDT, part of a broader semiconductor stocks rebound after a multi-session selloff.
Apple, which was the first U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion, $2 trillion and $3 trillion market cap, surpassed Nvidia to become the most valuable company as the markets closed on Friday, but lost the title as shares traded down 2% at 11:55 a.m. on Tuesday, bringing its market cap to $4.83 trillion.
Apple’s fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts’ projections for revenue, earnings per share and iPhone sales, but the stock fell during the call as the company said it expects a gross margin of 45% to 46% for the current quarter, down from 47.9% in the fourth quarter.
Nvidia became the first company to be valued at $5 trillion last October, and early last month analysts predicted it would hit $6 trillion in the coming weeks—but the month proved volatile for AI and semiconductor stocks including Nvidia, which lost around $835 billion in market cap in October.
Key Background
With the exception of a blip in July, a few minutes on the morning of Oct. 23, when Apple’s new foldable iPhone Duo became available, and the Friday afternoon to Monday stretch, Nvidia has held the title of the world’s most valuable company since June 2025, when it surpassed Microsoft. Apple reported fourth-quarter revenue of $114.5 billion, above analysts’ $113.4 billion prediction, earnings per share at $2.10, compared to analysts’ $1.99 prediction, and iPhone sales of $57.6 billion, beating Wall Street’s $56.6 billion expectation. Still, the disappointing gross margin projection spooked investors, and on the earnings call new Apple CEO John Ternus warned of “unprecedented” prices for memory, which he expects will continue to rise.
Tangent
Since its founding in 1993, Nvidia’s graphics processing unit, initially designed for video games, has become the foundational hardware for running AI models as technology companies race to build them. It generated just $27 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2023 compared to $215.9 billion in fiscal year 2026. In September, Nvidia agreed to acquire open-source AI model hosting platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. In the second quarter, the company’s data center business generated $89 billion, up 117% year over year and accounting for around 92% of the company’s total revenue. But just as the AI boom has fueled the company’s growth, mounting anxiety about substantial AI spending severely threatens Nvidia. Investors are growing increasingly concerned that the hundreds of billions of dollars companies are pouring into AI infrastructure won’t generate a sufficient return on investment, sparking tech selloffs that have hit Nvidia.
Surprising Fact
In September, Nvidia announced the largest single stock buyback authorization expansion in corporate history, adding $150 billion to its repurchase program, beating the $110 billion buyback Apple authorized in 2024.
What to Watch for
Nvidia is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings after the markets close on Nov. 17.
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