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"With its market cap at $213.9 billion, only two U.S. companies are bigger than Apple\n\n\n  \nHere&amp;#8217;s one way to measure Apple&amp;#8217;s \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAAPL\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t progress in March, a month in which its stock price set 11 all-time highs.\nOn March 9, a few days after the company announced the iPad&amp;#8217;s ship date, Apple&amp;#8217;s market capitalization (share price times shares outstanding) was $198.5 billion, making it one of the five most valuable U.S. companies, right  below Wal-Mart \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWMT\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t and ahead of Berkshire Hathaway \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tbrk.a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t.\nOn Friday March 12, the day Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad, its market cap hit $205.48 making it, briefly, the No. 3 U.S. company ahead of Wal-Mart &amp;#8212; a position it held for just one trading day.\nOn Tuesday March 30, following a report that it was building an iPhone for Verizon, its stock rose 1.5% to $235.85, its market cap hit $213.9 billion, and it overtook Wal-Mart once again to begin closing in on No. 2 Microsoft \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMSFT\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t. (See chart below the fold.)\n\n\n  \nSource: Wolfram Alpha\nTwo weeks ago, Apple was $50 billion behind its oldest frenemy. On Wednesday  morning, the gap was $47 billion. To close it, Apple would have to reach a share  price of $288.\n[UPDATE: Apple was up 3.73 points (1.58%) in early trading Thursday following a crop of positive iPad reviews, reducing the gap to about $42 billion and the target Apple has to hit to catch up to Microsoft to $284 a share.]\nThat&amp;#8217;s not out of the question. According to APPLinvestor&amp;#8216;s  summary of analyst ratings, eight analysts have set targets of $280 or  higher, and two of them &amp;#8212; Credit Suisse&amp;#8217;s Bill Shope and Citigroup&amp;#8217;s  Richard Gardner &amp;#8212; are looking for Apple to hit $300 a share.\nAt $300 the company would have a market cap of $272 billion and be  halfway to Exxon Mobil \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tXOM\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t.\nSee also:\n\nApple overtakes Wal-Mart\nApple approaches $200 billion\nApple  sets iPad ship date; shares hit record high\n\n[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2010/03/31/apple-is-no-3-closing-in-on-microsoft/>