Analysts ratchet up Nvidia price forecasts ahead of big conference with one seeing 30% upside

Published Mon, Mar 18 20249:19 AM EDTUpdated Mon, Mar 18 202410:01 AM EDT

Nvidia 's blowout rally is far from over as analysts continue to amp up their bets on the AI darling ahead of its highly anticipated GTC Conference. The event, kicking off Monday and nicknamed "AI Woodstock" by Bank of America , will be closely monitored by Wall Street analysts and investors on the hunt for insight into the chip giant's long-term AI vision. Along with future AI plans, Nvidia is expected to announce its next-generation B100 graphics processing unit, and share potential updates on its improved ethernet and networking platforms and future software opportunities. Several major Wall Street shops have already beefed up their price targets on the chipmaker heading into the event, with HSBC and Truist joining the flood on Monday. NVDA 1Y mountain Nvidia share performance over the last year According to FactSet, the current consensus price target on Nvidia implies about 4% upside, with 90% of analysts holding a buy or overweight rating. That's on top of a 77% year-to-date gain and 241% year-over-year rally as AI enthusiasm shows no signs of waning. 34% upside? "Its leading position in parallel compute & AI is owing less to its chips and more to its culture of innovation, ecosystem of incumbency, and massive investment in software, services & models," wrote Truist's William Stein in a Monday note. "We believe the upcoming GTC keynote will reveal broadening & deepening AI leadership." Stein boosted the firm's price target to $1,177 from $911 a share, reflecting 34% upside from Friday's close. He cited the company's expanding AI datacenter leadership and called the stock a "consistent winner" and "best investment" idea. "We expect NVDA to remain the primary beneficiary of AI in the datacenter, and we also expect it to be an important vendor for AI at the edge, which is the focus of today's deep-dive," he aid. HSBC's Frank Lee also upped the ante on Nvidia and hiked his price target to $1,050 from $880 a share, implying about 20% upside from Friday's close. He views the company's long-awaited B100 graphics processing unit, or Blackwell chip, and its GB200 AI platform as critical to the company's growing total addressable market and expanded pricing power. Lee estimates that GB200, which combines GPUs and central processing units, could fetch $60,000 to $70,000 and exceed the price of the standalone B100 GPU platform estimated to range between $30,000 and $35,000. "Not just defending their position, but on the attack with new GB200 AI roadmap," he wrote. "We are encouraged by Nvidia's AI product roadmap which focuses on moving beyond GPUs and towards owning the entire value chain." Wall Street turns more bullish HSBC and Truist may be the latest Wall Street shops to up estimates heading into the GTC Conference, but they are far from the first. Bank of America's Vivek Arya boosted his target to $1,100 last week, citing a strong product pipeline and "still compelling valuation" as Nvidia's total addressable market broadens. Cantor Fitzgerald's C.J. Muse adjusted his objective to $1,200. "We think the major takeaway from the week will be a clear vision to NVIDIA being sold out through 2024, a clear product cycle supporting another growth year in 2025 ... and a vibrant ecosystem ripe to monetize the tremendous opportunities as we approach a tipping point in Generative AI," Muse wrote. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting