Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) is closing in on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to become the world's second most valuable company by market capitalization, with the gap between the two companies narrowing down to a little over $250 billion.

What Happened: Nvidia's continued run has brought it within striking distance of Apple when it comes to market capitalization. Another surge of a little over 9% could bring it level with the iPhone maker.

The Apple stock has moved at a snail's pace compared to Nvidia – its shares have gained 3.6% in the first five months of 2024. On the other hand, Nvidia's surge has been rapid and sustained – it has made its investors richer by over 127%, more than doubling their wealth in the last five months.

As of market close on Friday, Nvidia's market capitalization stood at $2.69 trillion, while Apple's stood at $2.94 trillion.

At the beginning of 2024, Nvidia's market capitalization was $1.18 trillion while Apple's stood at $2.84 trillion.

Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.

Assuming that Apple's shares remain unchanged, Nvidia's share price would have to touch $1,198 for the Jensen Huang-led company to become the second most valuable company in the world.

Here's how a $1,000 investment in Nvidia and Apple stocks at the beginning of 2024 would have fared:

A $1,000 investment in Nvidia stock would now be worth $2,275, while a similar investment in Apple would be worth $1,036.

See Also: Apple Set To Announce New AI Features At WWDC, But You Might Need At Least This iPhone To Use Them, Says Report

Is Apple Falling Behind?

As far as Apple is concerned, 2024 has been a less-than-stellar year so far for the company in the stock market. It ceded the top position to Microsoft earlier this year, and it could soon drop to the third place if Nvidia maintains its momentum.

Increasing competition in China and the lack of a significant AI strategy for its iPhones and other products has played a role in Apple stock's subdued performance. It has fared worse than the Nasdaq Composite, which has surged by over 13% in 2024 so far.

What Are The Analysts Saying

Coupled with Nvidia going from strength to strength and blowing past analyst expectations with its Q1 results, chances are it could go past Apple.

According to the analysts at Morgan Stanley, Nvidia “shows no sign of slowing down" and that its "growth remains very strong through product transition."

Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann has set a target price of $1,400 for Nvidia stock, pointing at an upside of nearly 28% from the current price.

Besides, Huang doesn't seem to be in any mood to slow down – he thinks "everything else next to it is undesirable," when asked what drives him to do his job as Nvidia's CEO.

Price Action: Nvidia's stock closed 0.78% lower at $1,096.33, while Apple's shares rose 0.50% to close at $192.25 on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Apple’s Adoption Of AI For iPhones Will Drive ‘Multi-Year Upgrade Cycle,’ Say Analysts Ahead Of WWDC

Photos courtesy: Shutterstock and Flickr