It’s a huge day for Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), as the chip maker, which increasingly looks to be the primary source for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, lands a whole new set of wins. Nvidia shares rallied nearly 5% in the closing minutes of Wednesday’s trading to overtake Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in market value. This now makes it the second most valuable company around, as its latest rise puts it only behind Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).
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In addition, Nvidia crossed above the $3 trillion mark for the first time in its history and is now officially the third stock ever to reach that level, with only Apple and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) having beat Nvidia to that particular punch. Given that Nvidia shares are up around 3,300% in just the last five years, it’s clear that it made its mark with dizzying speed.
A Brewing Battle Royale
But for all the shattered milestones, Nvidia isn’t done yet. Now, it’s poised to take on AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) for a lead in the AI infrastructure market. While Nvidia has made substantial advances, AMD has been working with a range of partners to help drive its advances in the neural processor field, allowing AMD chips to basically power AI that runs on a standard laptop. And while Nvidia sees the rise of generative AI as being effectively the start of a new “industrial revolution,” AMD is working more to democratize the concept, focusing on open standards and interoperability.
Is Nvidia a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on NVDA stock based on 37 Buys and three Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 247.43% rally in its share price over the past year, the average NVDA price target of $1,205 per share implies 1.44% downside risk.
