Apple briefly reclaimed the title as the world’s most valuable company yesterday but an afternoon surge by ExxonMobil bumped the tech giant back to the No. 2 slot.

It was about the only thing Apple has failed to do over the past three months.

The Cupertino, Calif., company’s shares were riding high the day after it reported profits in the three months ended Dec. 31 more than doubled on more than 100 percent surges in the sales of iPhones and iPads.

Apple, run by Chief Executive Tim Cook, has been flirting with the title for months, and had surpassed the slippery oil giant before. Just after noon yesterday, Apple stood with a market cap of $418.06 billion compared to Exxon’s $411.78 billion.

By the end of the day as oil prices rallied, carrying all shares in the sector higher, Apple finished just under Exxon’s $418.1 billion value.

Investors pushed shares of Apple, which finished the quarter with nearly $100 billion of cash on hand, ahead 6.2 percent, or $26.25, to $446.66 after touching an all-time high of $454.45.