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Nvidia (NVDA) mania is heating up ahead of the market darling’s earnings report on Wednesday.
The company is “representative of the most important stocks in America,” EMJ Capital founder and president Eric Jackson told Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi on the Opening Bid podcast (see video above or listen below).
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Jackson reiterated his call that Nvidia’s stock could double within the next 12 months given its wide lead in artificial intelligence chip production.
“The investments [in AI] are just getting started,” Jackson added. “The need for these chips is still going to continue for the next year or two or three.”
Nvidia’s stock has surged more than 2,600% in the past five years, according to Yahoo Finance data, fueled by one impressive quarter after another as it grabbed the top position in cutting-edge chips.
The company’s strong performance is expected to continue in its fiscal third quarter — sales and profits are each estimated to be up 83% from a year ago. Wall Street remains bullish on its favorite stock.
Of the 63 sell-side analysts that cover Nvidia, 59 rate the stock a Buy or Strong Buy, Yahoo Finance data shows. The average price target stands at $160.38, about 13% above current levels.
“We see the near-term risks as largely balanced and we are buyers of Nvidia heading into its fiscal third quarter earnings report scheduled for Wednesday,” Evercore ISI analyst Mark Lipacis wrote in a client note on Monday. “Positive set-up indicators from accelerating bookings at cloud service providers, an upward bias on hyper-scale capital expenditures, as well as our view that near-term estimates will increase post the earnings call.”
Lipacis said that if Nvidia were to let investors down, it would come in the form of decelerating revenue growth.
There has been a whirlwind of activity around Nvidia as of late.
In addition to achieving the world’s most valuable company status by nudging out Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), Nvidia joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Nov. 8. Former chip leader Intel (INTC) was kicked out.
“It’s good that Nvidia is part of the mix now,” Jackson said, noting it could encourage purchases from retail investors.
One potential hiccup is the restrictions around selling to China by the Biden administration and subsequent write-downs, which were a “meaningful part of their quarterly earnings,” Jackson said. “They had to take it down to zero.”
