With the semiconductor giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) turning into a $5.1 trillion behemoth by 2026, with well over $100 billion in revenue in 2025, it might sound strange that, upon its initial public offering (IPO), it raised just slightly more than $40 million at a valuation in the low hundreds of millions.
Still, it is precisely due to the remarkable expansion of the company that its IPO would have proven one of the best possible investments an individual could have made in the twilight years of the previous century.
Indeed, for $1,000, a trader could have acquired a staggering 40,000 split-adjusted Nvidia shares at an adjusted price of just $0.025. Furthermore, even coming relatively late and missing NVDA stock’s initial rally would have meant buying 25,000 shares on the January 22, 1999, closing bell.
A quarter of a century later, on June 22, 2026, Nvidia’s equity is changing hands at $209.38 following a 0.62% from the most recent – June 18 – close at $210.69.
Thus, $1,000 invested at the IPO – for $12 per share without and $0.025 with adjustments – would have led to $8.37 million in profits. Additionally, even purchasing after the day-one rally was over would have still turned the $1,000 stake into a $5.2 million position.
Is Nvidia stock a good buy in 2026?
Elsewhere, while looking ahead too far is difficult, prominent Wall Street analysts have been confident in estimating that investing in the blue-chip chipmaker at the 2026 $5.1 trillion valuation would be a winning bet.
Indeed, Nvidia stock is overall considered a ‘Strong Buy,’ and boasts an average $310.62 price target for a 47.43% rally from the latest close, per the data Finbold retrieved from TradingView on June 22, 2026.
Should the consensus prediction be fulfilled, an investor who bought $1,000 worth of NVDA shares at the IPO adjusted price of $0.025 will have made $12.4 million by late June 2027. An investor who purchased the equity for the same amount at its first-ever closing price will have made $7.76 million.
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