Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)

We recently published a list of 10 Biggest AI Stories and Ratings Updates You Should Not Miss This Week. Since NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) ranks 3rd on the list, it deserves a deeper look.

The Federal Reserve now expects just one rate cut in this year, and the market’s reaction to this development has been calmer-than-expected, showing investors are now paying little to no attention to what the Fed does and instead have their eyes focused on AI, which continues to push the markets higher. Tech companies, small and large, are continuing to roll out AI-focused products and solutions, while funds are pouring billions into AI.  SoftBank has recently committed another $5 billion in AI investments for 5 companies ($1 billion each). A Wall Street Journal report cited SoftBank’s CFO, who said the bank’s chief Masayoshi Son was taking a “break from quarterly earnings meetings so he could focus on AI.”

In this backdrop it’s important to stay ahead of the curve and see what’s happening in the AI space.

In this article we will take a look at some of the biggest AI stock ratings updates and stories which can’t be missed. We focused on AI stocks that are popular among the smart money investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

A close-up of a colorful high-end graphics card being plugged in to a gaming computer.

NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 186

NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares are trending after the stock started trading on a split-adjusted basis. On Monday, Barclays Tom O’Malley gave bullish comments on the stock, with a $145 price target and an Overweight rating. The analyst pointed to a potential $25 billion opportunity from countries building up their AI capabilities. O’Malley expects NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) earnings at $3.62 per share in fiscal 2026, while Wall Street analysts on average have a $3.55 per share estimate for NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) earnings for 2026.

NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) latest product announcements and its plans revealed at the Computex 2024 show that NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) has much more in its arsenal to power its growth engine. Analysts like NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) shift to new AI architecture known as Rubin (R100) and think its powerful H100 and Blackwell chips easily beat competitors.

NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) will start shipping H200 in the second half of this year. At its GTC conference NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) revealed three accelerators – B200, GB200 and GB200 NVL72. All of these products provide growth catalysts for NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares and justify its P/E multiple of 71, given NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) growth expectation of over 100% this year and 32% next year. Based on 2026 EPS estimate set by Wall Street, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is trading at a forward P/E multiple of 35.74, which makes the stock’s valuation attractive given the growth catalysts it has.

RiverPark Large Growth Fund stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:

“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA): NVDA shares were our top contributor in the quarter following blowout 4Q results and 1Q guidance driven by strong data center sales. The company reported quarterly revenue of $22.1 billion, up 265% year-over-year, and EPS in the quarter of $5.16, up 487% year-over-year and 12% ahead of expectations. Revenue guidance for 1Q of $24 billion was 8% above very high expectations. The artificial intelligence arms race kicked-off by ChatGPT and Alphabet’s Bard, among others, has generated tremendous demand for Nvidia’s next generation graphic processors.

NVDA is the leading designer of graphics processing units (GPU’s) required for powerful computer processing. Over the past 20 years, the company has evolved through innovation and adaptation from a predominantly gaming-focused chip vendor to one of the largest semiconductor/software vendors in the world. Over the past decade, the company has grown revenue at a compound annual rate of over 20% while expanding operating margins and, through its asset light business model, producing ever increasing amounts of free cash flow. Following recent results, Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA stated in the company’s press release, “a trillion dollars of installed global data center infrastructure will transition from general purpose to accelerated computing as companies race to apply generative AI into every product, service and business process.”

Overall, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) ranks 3rd on Insider Monkey’s list titled 10 Biggest AI Stories and Ratings Updates You Should Not Miss This Week. While we acknowledge the potential of NVIDIA, our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.