Let that sink in for a second...NVIDIA has accomplished a feat that many would have considered unthinkable just over a year ago. The chipmaker's market value briefly surged past tech giants Amazon and Alphabet on Monday, capping a meteoric rise fueled by their market-leading position in AI chips and accelerated computing.
NVIDIA's stock price climbed nearly 3% to an all-time high exceeding $740 per share, boosting its total market capitalization to $1.83 trillion. This narrowly edges out Alphabet's $1.82 trillion valuation and Amazon's $1.8 trillion.
To day it's an astonishing trajectory is an understatement. As recently as October 2022, NVIDIA's market cap hovered below $300 billion. But once the AI wave began swelling last year, investors flooded into NVIDIA stock, quadrupling its value in just 15 months.
NVIDIA now stands as the world's fourth most valuable public company, trailing only Microsoft, Apple and Saudi Aramco.
The company owes its meteoric valuation to its market-stranglehold over the semiconductor technology essential for powering AI applications - particularly generative AI.
As corporate and investor enthusiasm grows over AI's potential, NVIDIA is superbly positioned to capitalize. But it isn't just future promise propelling NVIDIA's stock higher. Its financial performance is already explosively expanding along with its AI segment.
The company's EBITDA surged by more than 500% year-over-year in the last quarter, primarily driven by its AI unit's exponential growth. This outpaces the already impressive earnings growth of more than 20% reported by Amazon and Alphabet during the same period. To be clear, their overall revenue and profits still pale compared to trillion-dollar titans like Apple and Microsoft, however analysts widely expect its financials will soon catch up.
NVIDIA remains a top Wall Street pick even after its incredible 50% returns this year alone. Analysts at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America both set a $800 price target for NVIDIA, expecting another 8% upside for the stock.
The company's next milestone arrives next Wednesday when it reports earnings for its most recent quarter ending in January. Expectations run high, with projections that NVIDIA will announce a third straight quarter of record sales and profits - further cementing its status as the dominant AI semiconductor firm.
While nothing is guaranteed, NVIDIA's trajectory shows no signs of slowing. For now, the only question remaining is, how far can it go?