Analysts are falling back in love with Nvidia, with Citi giving it almost 100% upside

Published Mon, Sep 26 20228:54 PM EDT

Analysts are once again starting to get bullish on Nvidia , after the semiconductor giant lost favor amid geopolitical tensions and a slowdown in the chip sector. Citi and JPMorgan both said last week that solid demand in PC gaming, as well as cloud adoption in data centers, were set to be tailwinds for Nvidia. That's after the firm unveiled new flagship gaming chips that use artificial intelligence to enhance graphics. Nvidia's data center business, which sells chips used in AI, has also boomed in recent years. "While [first half] is typically seasonally weaker than 2H, we expect solid demand in PC gaming to be a strong revenue driver for the company, offsetting PC [original equipment manufacturer], which is in secular decline," said JPMorgan in a Sept. 21 note. The bank added that it also expects Nvidia's data center segment to grow strongly, and noted the strength of the firm's automotive and enterprise businesses. JPMorgan said Nvidia's new gaming products were set to be strong demand catalysts into 2023. "NVIDIA is well-positioned to continue to benefit from major secular trends in AI, high performance computing, gaming, and autonomous vehicles, in our view," JPMorgan said. "Bottom line: NVIDIA continues to be 1-2 steps ahead of its competitors from silicon/systems, software, and ecosystem adoption." The bank has an overweight rating on the stock, and price target of $220. That's an upside of around 75% from its Friday close of $125.16. Citi also has a buy rating on Nvidia, with a price target of $248, or an upside of around 98%. It said that Nvidia was "working hard and fast" to offer customers alternative products, given restrictions in China. Nvidia shares are down nearly 60% so far this year as it grapples with geopolitical headwinds. In August, the U.S. government announced it was restricting chip sales to China – imposing a new license requirement for future exports to China to reduce the risk that the products may be used by the Chinese military. "We are working with our customers in China to satisfy their planned or future purchases with alternative products and may seek licenses where replacements aren't sufficient," an Nvidia spokesperson told CNBC at the time. The news drove some downgrades for the stock in early September. However, in the same week, Ark Invest's Cathie Wood scooped up 226,717 shares of Nvidia.