Another well-known tech giant may be slowly encroaching on Apple's place at the top.
Apple's stock has fallen more than 22 percent in the past six months, while Alphabet, formerly known as Google, has seen an almost equal but opposite move in its stock price. And while Apple tops the list of S&P 500 companies in market capitalization, Alphabet is narrowing the gap to become the most valuable company in the world.
Alphabet closed at a stock price of $720 on Wednesday with a market cap of about $500 billion. Apple closed at $97 with a market cap of about $540 billion.
"I see Apple's loss of market cap leadership set to continue," Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com said Wednesday on CNBC's "Power Lunch."
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Looking at the ratio between Apple and Alphabet shares, Gordon noted that if current trends continue, Alphabet's value will overtake Google's at some point in 2017.
So far in 2016, both popular tech stocks have seen declines of 7.5 percent amid a steep market sell-off. But despite the recent volatility in U.S. stocks, Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein said Alphabet should continue to see gains, especially after the company reports fourth-quarter earnings scheduled for Feb. 1.
"You have to remember, investors are anticipating this earnings call in the next few weeks where the company is expected to disclose their losses on speculative projects and the market is really waiting for that," Helfstein said Wednesday on "Power Lunch." "If it wasn't for that, I would say you might want to be more cautious."
Once Alphabet breaks out revenue and losses by business, the numbers should reassure investors about the profitability of its core Internet business, Helfstein said. Increasing profit margins and a $5 billion stock buyback announced in October should also help Alphabet's stock price, he said.
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