The semiconductor giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been, arguably, the biggest stock market star since late 2022.
The nearly unbroken rally saw the chipmaker’s valuation rocket some $2 trillion and turned it from a household name among gamers into one of the most popular investments on the market.
Thanks to its role in AI, cloud computing, and data center technologies. Nvidia also became a top contender for the world’s most valuable company in 2024.
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Such a stellar rise has also, as could be expected, created a level of anxiety that a fall might be right around the corner, and NVDA stock’s persistent trading below the June highs and its strong reaction to adverse news in early August and September only reinforced the fears.
Wall Street experts see significant growth for Nvidia in the coming 12 months
Despite these developments, analysts have overwhelmingly remained firm believers in the Nvidia bull case. Indeed, NVDA shares boast an overall ‘strong buy’ rating, per the data retrieved from the stock analysis platform TipRanks on September 30.
Additionally, the rating is exceptionally decisive as, out of the 42 experts represented on the platform, 39 consider Nvidia a ‘buy,’ and the remaining 3 are ‘neutral.’ There are no NVDA ‘sell’ ratings at press time on the last day of Q3, 2024.
The most bullish of experts also believe Nvidia is set for a rally to $200 in the coming 52 weeks, while the most cautious analysts see it falling to $90 in the same time frame.
From its current price of $120.15, Nvidia is expected to rise to $152.44 within the next 12 months – a 27.05% upside.
The recent rating revisions have also mostly been positive. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and TD Cowen both reaffirmed their ‘buy’ ratings for Nvidia shares.
William Blair initiated coverage in mid-September with a bullish recommendation and a particular eye for the strong demand for the chipmaker’s products.
Furthermore, on September 26, Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon reiterated the $155 price target – assigned on August 29 – and the associated ‘outperform’ rating.
Similarly, Susquehanna has also confirmed the positive outlook for Nvidia shares – and the $160 price target – though it noted that the company needs to address “two glaring holes” in its data center offering: analog and optical networking.
Bull case for Nvidia stock decisive, but not absolute
There have also been some bearish cases for Nvidia.
These have generally focused on the perceived fragility of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom or the rising competition from China. Though too old by press time to be included in the usual aggregate ratings, the most pointed of these bearish assessments came from leading economist and financial author Harry Dent in June.
Like several other prominent analysts, Dent subscribes to the idea that the current market represents one of the biggest bubbles in history and has identified NVDA shares as the biggest likely loser of its bursting. According to the economist, such an event could lead to Nvidia falling 98%.
Nvidia stock price chart
Whatever the future may hold, the recent past demonstrates Nvidia has likely broken its summertime trend of sideways trading. Indeed, the semiconductor giant is up as much as 11.09% in the last 30 days and NVDA stock price today, at press time, stands at $120.15.
Such price action can be seen as the continuation of the broader Nvidia surge that enabled the chipmaker to climb 148.45% since January 2, 2024. Still, it is worth pointing out that NVDA stock remains below its yearly highs, near $136, and there remains a danger that it will not regain them in the foreseeable future.
