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Apple is No. 8 on Fortune's list of fastest-growing companies

With a stock price that keeps rising and the highest market value among U.S. companies, Apple is a top tech players on Fortune's new list.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
2 min read

Despite competition from Android, Apple is doing just fine, at least according to Fortune's list of the fastest-growing companies around the world.

Apple came in third on the list of the top 100 companies with a three-year average growth in profit of 70 percent and a gain in sales of 52 percent. Over the past year, Apple's stock price has soared 80 percent, helping it to become the biggest company in the U.S. based on market value.

The one disappointment cited by Fortune was Apple's fiscal 2012 third quarter when earnings and iPhone sales were lower than Wall Street expected. But the 26 million iPhones sold during the quarter proved to be a 28 percent gain over the same period in 2011.

The iPad also contributed to Apple's fortunes last quarter. The company sold 17 million tablets, a jump of 84 percent over the same quarter last year.

Apple is naturally expecting a big boom this quarter when it unveils its next-generation iPhone next week. But the critical holiday quarter could also receive an additional boost if the company launches its much-rumored iPad Mini in October.

Apple's ascent to eighth place is a healthy boost from last year when the company was No. 21 on the list.

So, what other technology companies made Fortune's list?

Chipmaker Cirrus Logic surpassed Apple to win the No. 2 spot. Its three-year average profit growth hit 450 percent, while its sales gains reached 39 percent.

The company can actually thank Apple for much of its growth. Cirrus Logic manufactures audio chips for smartphones and other devices and is a prime supplier for Apple. Shares of Cirrus Logic stock soared at the end of July based on anticipated demand for Apple's upcoming new iDevices.

Chinese search engine Baidu scored third place among the world's fastest-growing companies.

Dubbed the "Chinese equivalent of Google," by Fortune, Baidu owns 79 percent of the search engine market in China.

Over the past three years, the company has recorded average profit growth of 99 percent and sales growth of 72 percent. Baidu has expanded its business by selling its own Android phone and integrating its mobile search engine onto iOS devices for Chinese consumers. But the bulk of its sales are generated through search advertising, Fortune noted.

The full list of the fastest-growing 100 companies also includes such well-known tech firms as Priceline.com, Zagg, Netgear, and VMWare.