Stock Market Live December 26: Nvidia to Buy Groq, S&P 500 (VOO) Flat After Christmas
Live Updates
Capital One Beats AmEx
BTIG analyst Vincent Caintic raised his price target on S&P 500 component company Capital One (NYSE: COF | COF Price Prediction) to $308, and maintained his buy rating on the credit card giant today.
Caintic values Capital One at 12.4x 2027 estimated earnings, growing towards a 15x multiple in the future, which he notes would still be cheaper than the 20x multiple on American Express (NYSE: AXP) — which Caintic says is a sell.
Capital One stock is flat today despite the news, American Express is down 0.6%, and the Voo is now down 0.1%
China Lashes Out
China is responding to a Trump administration plan to sell weapons to Taiwan by sanctioning 20 U.S. defense companies, including Boeing (NYSE: BA), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) and privately-held Anduril Industries.
Company executives will be banned from entering China and any assets they own in China will be frozen, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Walmart Upgraded After Christmas
Wall Street remains pretty quiet as trading resumes for the week’s final day. CICC is one of the few analysts still at its desk initiating coverage of stocks this week, starting Walmart (NYSE: WMT) at outperform rating with a $125 price target.
Details on the initiation are few at present, but it’s logical to assume CICC thinks Walmart had a good Christmas selling season. Regardless, Walmart stock opened 0.1% lower this morning, and the Voo is still up less than 0.1%.
Nvidia stock is up 1% however.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all along Wall Street, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) looks mostly flat premarket this morning, not down exactly, but up less than 0.1%. That’s okay, though. If the Voo doesn’t move an inch today, it will still end the week up 1.4% after gains won earlier in the week.
The big news today concerns Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA), which is making what CNBC calls “its largest purchase ever,” spending $20 billion to acquire the assets of an artificial intelligence semiconductor chip manufacturer called “Groq.”
(Note: No, not Elon Musk’s Grok AI service. That’s a different company.)
CNBC says Groq was most recently valued at $6.9 billion on the private market in September, so the price Nvidia is paying represents roughly a 3x increase in the company’s value in three months.
(And people say “AI is a bubble.” Pfui!)
Details are a bit unclear. Groq itself describes the transaction as a “non-exclusive licensing agreement” of its “inference technology” to Nvidia, and says it will continue under its own steam as an independent company. Other commentators, though, say that Nvidia is getting “all of Groq’s assets.”
For 3x Groq’s price three months ago, one would hope so!
Valuation
Groq is said to be targeting $500 million in revenue this year. Assuming it gets there, the valuation on this deal would be 40 times current year sales. For comparison, Nvidia’s own stock costs less than 25x trailing sales today.
So yes, Nvidia is buying Groq at a premium. Then again, with a stock market valuation of $4.6 trillion, if anyone can afford to buy things at a premium, it’s Nvidia.
[select fisher pitch]
Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
© wigglestick / Getty Images
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks