Semiconductor titan Nvidia's (NVDA) shares on Thursday received a price-target increase from Truist, to $910 from $768, based on data-center trends and software monetization.
The investment firm affirmed its buy rating on the Santa Clara, Calif., company.
Nvidia shares recently traded at $792.73, down 2.7%, as the Nasdaq Composite dropped. The shares had surged 53% in the six months through Wednesday amid the company's strong financial performance.
On Tuesday Keybanc analyst John Vinh lifted his one-year price target on Nvidia to $950 from $775. That followed on from BMO Capital Markets analyst Ambrish Srivastava, who last Thursdaylifted his price target on the chip titanto a Wall Street high of $1,000 from $975 and affirmed an outperform rating.
Analysts have piled on the praise for Nvidia since the company’s first-quarter results,which came in better than expectedamid strength in so-called hyperscale data-center demand, which includes demand for its graphics cards and chips using for both gaming and crypto mining.
Even before then, analysts weretouting Nvidia’s performanceamid strong demand for its gaming graphics cards. That demand surged through the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, which boosted sales of at-home entertainment like videogames.
All were compounded by the continuing chip shortage, which has boosted demand - and prices -for the chips and the cards.
As for Truist, “Our ongoing dialog with industry contacts (component buyers/sellers) continue to reflect improving demand signals from NVDA's data-center business through 2021,” analyst William Stein wrote in a commentary.
“More recently, order trends indicate another meaningful growth year in 2022.”
Meanwhile, “Software monetization reveals a multibillion-dollar opportunity,” Stein said.
“We've long noted that NVDA's competitive moat is owing less to its semiconductor design and more to its culture of innovation, ecosystem of incumbency, and massive software investment.
“Recently the company announced plans to offer customers full stack AI development software licensing and support on enterprise servers.”