Is it too late to buy Nvidia shares? Here's what Wall Street says

Published Sun, Feb 25 20247:10 PM ESTUpdated Sun, Feb 25 20249:41 PM EST

The buzz around Nvidia shows no sign of abating, with the chip giant posting another quarter of multi-billion dollar revenue upside . The company, which had already rocketed over 200% in 2023, rose 13% higher on the back of its earnings report. This year alone, it has risen around 58%, with Nvidia last closing around $788 on Friday. But just how far can Nvidia go? Here's what analysts are saying. Citi says it now believes that Nvidia is set to deliver higher-than-expected AI graphics processing units this year and the next, based on supply chain discussions and its own estimates. It says that in a bull case, "elongated" AI infrastructure will be what's driving those stronger-than expected AI GPUs. The bank increased its price target for Nvidia to $820 from $575 in a Feb. 22 note. "Nvidia expects AI demand to remain strong and above supply through the year … long-term earnings power looks attractive based on our $200B compute [total addressable market] by 2027," it said. Ray Wang, principal analyst at Constellation Research, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" that "we haven't hit peak Nvidia yet." "They have a 90% share of the market in AI chips .... [with] 18 month backlog on GPUs still to come," he says, adding that companies "still want their GPUs from Nvidia" despite alternatives. Jeff Pu, managing director of equities research at Haitong International, says it's "not too late to get on the high-speed trains" of the Nvidia boom, raising his price target to $950. "We believe the data center infrastructure momentum will continue into next one to two to three years," he told CNBC's " Street Signs Asia ," flagging higher GPU requirements and strong demand from enterprise clients in 2025 and 2026 — with Apple as a key driver. TD Cowen said in a Feb. 21 note that the company is likely to maintain strong data center growth in the coming years. GPUs are widely used in data centers, which are set to benefit from AI's huge computing power needs. Nvidia itself has a booming data center business. "We continue to believe the industry is in the early innings of two transformational paradigm shifts toward accelerated computing and generative AI - with NVIDIA firmly positioned as the leader in both," it wrote. "[Its] suite of superior technology, long pedigree of innovation, and extensive growth-oriented investments should allow for strong, sustained, above-peer growth across a widening set of verticals," it added. In a Feb. 22 note, BofA said its data center sales growth is "robust" and the product launches in the coming year is "capable of supporting strong growth" well into 2025. It raised its price target for Nvidia from $800 to $925. But there was a rare voice of caution. Gil Luria, managing director of D.A. Davidson, acknowledged that the data center opportunity is huge. But while giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta are building this "huge infrastructure around AI , " they have "no need to do that again" after they are done building it out. He also pointed out the increasing amount of competition that Nvidia has to contend with, with Amazon , Alphabet and Meta having their own chips, or with the tech giants supporting AMD and Intel to develop their own to replace Nvidia. Luria only has a neutral rating for Nvidia, giving it a $410 price target — implying a 47% downside. Here are the latest price targets for Nvidia from major banks and financial institutions, that many refreshed last week. Nvidia last closed around $788 on Friday. Bottomline: According to FactSet, analysts covering Nvidia gave it a 93% buy rating, with an average price target of $850.97, implying upside of 8.4%. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.