Nvidia is the business that capitalized most successfully on the most dominant narrative in the financial markets for the past two years — artificial intelligence (AI). However, despite its impressive performance, the upward trajectory of Nvidia stock (NASDAQ: NVDA) stalled out in the beginning of 2025.
While NVDA stock reached an all-time high (ATH) price of $149.43 on January 6, it had receded to as low as $128 by January 27, on account of the overnight success of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek.
The large language model (LLM) released by DeepSeek was reportedly trained without using Nvidia’s latest line of chips. Moreover, initial reports suggested that it only took a fraction of the expected cost to build and train the model — which brought doubts regarding the necessity of high capital expenditures in the field — in other words, doubts that Nvidia’s biggest customers actually had to spend as much as they said they were going to on the chipmaker’s products.
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Once the dust had settled, however, Wall Street remained fairly optimistic — with many eminent analysts citing DeepSeek as an ultimately bullish catalyst, one which would bring about greater adoption of AI on the whole, and as such, greater demand for Nvidia’s products.
By press time on February 18, Nvidia stock was trading at a price of $143.18 — marking the first time since January 24 that the crucial $140 level has been reclaimed.
Now that the losses made from the DeepSeek shock are erased, only one question remains — can Nvidia stock surpass its previous all-time high and reach new heights?
Nvidia stock likely to reach new ATH soon — but upward momentum should intensify by the end of the month
To reach its previous ATH, Nvidia stock would have to rally by another 4.36% compared to prices at the time of publication. This is by no means an overly ambitious mark — seeing as how over the past week, prices have already increased by 7.78%.
Barring any unexpected bearish catalysts, it seems like only a matter of time before the previous ATH is surpassed — but investors looking for the strong upward moves we saw in 2024 ought to exercise patience. In all likelihood, we won’t see a significant breakout above $149 — at least not until the end of February.
While the chipmaker’s long-term prospects remain solid, DeepSeek has shattered the illusion that Nvidia has secured an impenetrable moat for itself in the field of AI. In tandem with this, the company’s valuation remains high, and while Wall Street remains bullish, it would be obtuse to claim that investor confidence in the company hasn’t been shaken, at least a little.
With that in mind, investors will turn to the company’s next earnings call, due February 26, for a more grounded and material outlook. The reactions of the market and analysts in the immediate aftermath will set the stage for further price action — although readers should note that the deleterious effects of DeepSeek, if they did indeed reflect on Nvidia’s top line, will have only have had a month to kick in — so we certainly will not be getting the entire picture so soon.
Featured image via Shutterstock
