By Noel Randewich
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) very briefly retook its title as the most valuable publicly listed U.S. company on Monday, beating out Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), while Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was close behind the trio as it prepared to report its quarterly results.
With Microsoft and Apple rallying almost 3 percent, Apple's market capitalization for a few seconds was $806.6 billion, exceeding Microsoft's by $200 million and Amazon's by about $1.2 billion.
Microsoft quickly returned to its spot as the most valuable company, but Apple was on track to end the session above Amazon, up 0.4 percent, taking the No 2 spot.
Average analyst price targets imply Amazon would become by far the most valuable U.S. publicly-listed company at $1.03 trillion, followed by Microsoft at $967 billion, Alphabet at $927 billion and Apple at just $835 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Tech heavyweights' market cap - https://tmsnrt.rs/2HTwYRR
Apple's stock has risen 11 percent since its quarterly report last Tuesday, with investors betting it was oversold following months of concern about a slowdown in iPhone demand, and the company's rare revenue warning on Jan. 2 related to soft demand in China.
After touching a record $1.1 trillion last October, Apple's market capitalization fell gradually, and it was overtaken in December by Amazon and Microsoft.
Apple's stock market value hit a low of $675 billion on Jan. 3 after its revenue warning, but then steadily recovered, helped in part by a quarterly report that was better than feared by investors.
While Apple has gained in recent sessions, Microsoft and Amazon's stocks have fallen after their quarterly reports. Amazon has declined about 4 percent since Thursday, when it forecast first-quarter sales below Wall Street estimates and warned over new regulations in India.
Since Wednesday, when Microsoft met targets for its quarterly results and forecast, its stock has slipped nearly 1 percent.
Google-parent Alphabet was up 2.6 percent, putting its stock market value at $788 billion. After the bell, the company is expected to post quarterly revenue of $38.9 billion, up 20 percent, and a 12 percent increase in non-GAAP net income to $7.7 billion, according to Refinitiv data.