TLDR
- Nvidia stock closed at a record $238.90, pushing its market cap to roughly $5.76 trillion.
- The stock needs to top $248.96 to reach a $6 trillion valuation, based on current share count.
- BNP Paribas raised its price target to $345 from $285, citing growth in AI agents.
- Partner Foxconn posted a 47% jump in quarterly revenue, pointing to strong AI server demand.
- Nvidia added $150 billion to its buyback program, the largest increase of its kind on record.
Nvidia stock closed at a record $238.90 on Monday, up 2% on the day. That puts the chipmaker’s market cap at close to $5.76 trillion.
It’s the stock’s first record close since May. Before this, the previous high was $235.74.
To hit a $6 trillion valuation, Nvidia would need to trade above $248.96. That’s based on the company’s current outstanding share count, which could shift given its ongoing buyback.
BNP Paribas analyst Karl Ackerman thinks the climb isn’t over. He raised his price target on Nvidia to $345 from $285 this week.
His reasoning centers on AI agents, which he expects will drive more demand for Nvidia’s hardware. He also projects the company will capture more than three quarters of the total market for AI computing power, in dollar terms.
What’s Driving The Optimism
Ackerman says Nvidia’s rack-scale AI hardware, paired with its CUDA software libraries, gives it an edge that’s hard to match. He expects the company to hold gross margins above 70%, even as competition builds.
His price target is based on a modest 15 times price-to-earnings multiple against his 2028 earnings forecast, plus cash on hand. That’s a conservative starting point for a stock that keeps climbing anyway.
Nvidia was a Barron’s pick back in May, when it traded around $226. The call at the time was for the stock to reach $300 within 12 months. It’s getting there faster than expected.
Nvidia’s manufacturing partner Foxconn added fuel to the fire on Monday. The company, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, reported September-quarter revenue of 3.03 trillion New Taiwan dollars, or $95.48 billion.
That’s a 47% jump from the same period last year. Foxconn said its AI business would keep expanding through year end, though it didn’t offer a specific forecast.
Foxconn is known in the U.S. for assembling Apple devices, which fell 0% on Monday. But most of its business now comes from cloud and networking gear, especially AI servers built around Nvidia chips.
A Cheap Stock By Its Own Standards
Despite the record price, Nvidia has been trading near its lowest forward earnings multiple in over a decade. That’s unusual given revenue and net income are each expected to grow by roughly 90% this fiscal year.
At Monday’s close, the stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 17.1 times, according to FactSet data cited by Barron’s. CEO Jensen Huang has pointed to this gap himself.
Last month, at a Goldman Sachs tech conference, Huang called Nvidia “the world’s first and only growth value stock.” He said the company is “incredibly misunderstood.”
Goldman Sachs stock dipped 1% the same day. Nvidia also made a major move on capital returns last week.
The company authorized a $150 billion increase to its buyback program. That brings total remaining buyback authorization to $235 billion, which Nvidia says is the largest such increase in history.
Nvidia expects to complete the full buyback program through fiscal year 2028. Analysts tracked by FactSet currently have a consensus price target of $334.45 on the stock.
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