Your Money

Nvidia delivers again for excited investors

Results push market cap to $2.5tn which is equal to the entire German stock market

Nvidia shares pushed past the $1,000 mark following its latest bumper results. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Proinsias O'Mahony
Sun May 26 2024 - 07:00

The latest blockbuster results from artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia drove the shares above $1,000 for the first time, driving a $2.5 trillion market capitalisation that is now equal to the entire German stock market.

Revenues soared 262 per cent from a year ago – some record, given the first quarter of 2023 was the quarter that really kick-started the AI party, following what Wedbush analyst Dan Ives described as “guidance for the ages”. Ives was similarly bullish following the latest results, saying the AI party is “just getting started”.

That may be hyperbolic – after a 240 per cent rally over the last year, Nvidia is already the third-most valuable company in the world. Nevertheless, Goldman Sachs agrees the latest rally wasn’t driven by Nvidia delivering an earnings beat that “everyone expected”. Rather, investors are looking forward, and they like what they see, namely continued strong guidance, demand for its highly-anticipated Blackwell chips exceeding supply, and its assertion that it has “other Blackwells coming”.

Investor excitement often leads to overvaluation, but Bank of America reckons Nvidia can deliver $50 in earnings per share within two years, indicating it’s trading on just 20 times 2026 earnings.

READ MORE

That may be optimistic but Bernstein analysts agree shares remain “relatively expensive”, with “a narrative that is clearly nowhere near its end, and likely nowhere near its peak”.

Proinsias O'Mahony

Proinsias O'Mahony

Proinsias O’Mahony, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes the weekly Stocktake column

LATEST STORIES