Nvidia’s (NVDA) third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday saw the chipmaker once again blow away Wall Street forecasts.
And analysts across the street were quick to praise the results, which showed the world’s largest publicly traded company continued to benefit from the AI boom.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives, one of Nvidia’s biggest fans on Wall Street, said in a note to investors Thursday that the company’s fiscal third-quarter results, reported after the bell Wednesday, were “impeccable” and “should be framed in the Louvre and hanged’.
With his trademark flair, Ives also often refers to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as the “Godfather of AI” and the company’s latest Blackwell AI chip as the “LeBron” of semiconductors.
“We believe Nvidia has charted a path to a market cap of $4 trillion and beyond and that this is positive for the broader tech rally through year-end and 2025,” Ives wrote elsewhere in his report.
Nvidia’s financial results for the quarter ended October 27 exceeded expectations across the board.
And while other analysts didn’t go so far as to recommend Nvidia’s print as worthy of an art exhibition, analysts from investment firms like JPMorgan, DA Davidson and Bernstein each raised their price targets for the stock after Wednesday’s report.
“NVIDIA is well within the ability to extend growth into next year given hyperscaler commentary around additional investments in AI computing and the company’s ability to deliver even amid production setbacks,” wrote DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria Thursday in its own note to investors.
Luria is relatively bearish on Nvidia and has warned of risks to the company’s growth, including the potential of an AI bubble and Nvidia’s high concentration of revenue among relatively few Big Tech customers. But after Nvidia’s third-quarter results, Luria raised his price target on the stock from $90 to $135, though he maintained his neutral rating.
JPMorgan’s Harlan Sur reiterated his buy rating on Nvidia shares and raised his price target to $170 from $155, noting that demand for Nvidia’s Hopper chips has continued even as tech companies rush to buy the latest Blackwell series.
William Stein of Truist Securities, who also maintains a buy rating on Nvidia stock, wrote in a note late Wednesday: “NVDA remains *the* AI company because of its culture of innovation, ecosystem of established companies and massive investments in software, pre- trained models and services.”
Despite the hit, Nvidia shares fell about 1% on Thursday, lagging the broader market.
Analysts attributed the share price decline to the company’s in-line guidance for the current quarter. Stein, for his part, refuted any negative sentiment on the stock, writing: “NVDA’s increased confidence in the Blackwell disaster should overwhelm pressure on the stock with a fourth-quarter revenue forecast that’s more ‘good’ than ‘great’ was.”
Earlier this year, Nvidia postponed production of its latest Blackwell AI chips from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, given design flaws that the company says have now been resolved. A report from the Information this week about overheating problems with Nvidia’s latest servers, each containing 72 Blackwell chips, renewed fears of delays and sent shares tumbling.
But Nvidia has allayed those concerns, at least in the eyes of analysts.
In a note titled “Fake News?” wrote Evercore ISI analyst Mark Lipacis: “Consistent with our own sources, NVDA reiterated Blackwell production at full capacity as it now anticipates JanQ shipments faster than previous expectations.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang before a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks in San Francisco, Tuesday, September 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) ·ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nvidia’s shares have come under intermittent pressure in recent months amid fears that big tech companies’ AI spending could hit a wall. The uncertainty about the consequences of Trump 2.0’s trade policy for the company, which sells specialized chips to China under current trade restrictions, has also come into focus. Sales to China made up 14% of Nvidia’s data center revenue during the company’s fiscal year ended January 28, 2024.
Christopher Miller, author of “Chip War,” told Yahoo Finance that semiconductors should not be too badly affected by tariffs, although they could come under pressure if tariffs on Chinese-assembled electronics such as PCs and phones – which use the chips – increase demand. that those products are purchased.
“The change in management will not make a big difference [for chipmakers]”, said Molenaar.
Nvidia also has an advantage in expanding into markets other than computer products for AI software developers, Voltron Data chief technology officer Rodrigo Aramburu told Yahoo Finance. “NVIDIA is really well positioned,” said Aramburu.[It’s] in more places than AI.”
Truist Securities’ Stein said this week that he expects Nvidia to release a consumer CPU next year, used for “traditional” computing, “bringing significant additional [total addressable market].”
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @LauraBratton5.
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