The AI Trade Is Still On: Why Nvidia Remains at the Center of It

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By Vandita Jadeja Published

Quick Read

  • NVDA earns a BUY rating with a $262.81 price target, representing 27% upside, backed by $81.6 billion in Q1 revenue, up 85% year over year.

  • NVDA trades at a P/E of 42 versus AMD's 196, while its $48.5 billion quarterly free cash flow dwarfs both AMD and Broadcom.

  • Even the bear scenario lands at $228, a 10% gain, supported by $119 billion in supply commitments and 75% gross margins.

  • Don't wait: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just revealed his top 10 AI stocks. See the full list FREE now.

The AI Trade Is Still On: Why Nvidia Remains at the Center of It

© Shutterstock / Piotr Swat

The AI capex cycle keeps compounding, and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) sits at the wheel. My model sees room to run from here, even after a decade in which the stock returned 14,797.5%.

Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for NVIDIA is $262.81, pointing to 27.06% upside from the current $206.84 quote. The recommendation is buy, with high model confidence of 0.9. Earnings are growing faster than the multiple is compressing, and the platform moat is widening.

An infographic titled 'NVIDIA (NVDA) • NASDAQ 12-Month Price Prediction'. It shows the current price of $206.84, an upside of +27.06%, and a target price of $262.81 with a 'BUY' recommendation and 'High Confidence (0.9)'. The 'HOW WE GOT THERE' section describes a weighted base from Trailing P/E ($206.84), Forward P/E ($196.63), and Analyst Consensus ($302.83). An 'OUR ADJUSTMENTS' bar chart illustrates various factors including Sector Momentum (x1.15), Earnings Growth (+0.03), Volatility Adjustment (-0.024), and Market Cap Dampening (x0.5), leading to the final target. The 'BULL CASE' section outlines positive drivers and a target of $303.16 (+46.57%). The 'BEAR CASE' section lists potential risks and a target of $228.21 (+10.33%). The infographic concludes with 'THE BOTTOM LINE' showing a BUY recommendation at $262.81 (+27.06%).
24/7 Wall St.

24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary

Metric Value
Current Price $206.84
24/7 Wall St. Price Target $262.81
Upside 27.06%
Recommendation BUY
Confidence Level 90%

Where the Stock Sits Today

NVIDIA is up 11.04% year to date and 19.21% over the past year, with the current $206.84 quote sitting 28% below its $236.26 52-week high.

The Q1 FY27 report on May 20 was the fourth consecutive beat, with revenue of $81.615 billion up 85.23% YoY and non-GAAP EPS of $1.87 clearing the $1.7738 consensus. Data Center hit $75.246 billion, with networking alone up 199% YoY. Recent partnership headlines reinforce the sovereign-AI thesis.

NVDA earnings explorer

The Bull Case

Q2 FY27 guidance calls for revenue of $91 billion at a 75% gross margin, explicitly excluding China Data Center compute revenue. Supply commitments of $119 billion signal demand runway well beyond current quarters.

The board authorized an additional $80 billion buyback and lifted the quarterly dividend to $0.25. Analyst consensus sits at $302.83, with 58 buy ratings against a single sell. Our bull case fair value lands at $303.16, a 46.57% return.

What Could Go Wrong

The bear case starts with China. The H20 line generated $4.6 billion a year ago and delivered zero this quarter. Concentration risk is real: hyperscalers make up roughly 50% of Data Center revenue.

Insider activity has skewed toward selling. Counter-argument: $119 billion in commitments and a 75% gross margin point to sustained demand well beyond a single-quarter window. Our bear scenario still lands at $228.21, a 10.33% gain.

NVDA prediction tug of war

How NVIDIA Compares to AMD and Broadcom

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is the closest direct competitor on merchant GPUs and EPYC server CPUs. AMD posted Q1 FY26 revenue of $10.253 billion, up 37.9%, with Data Center up 57%. AMD trades at a P/E near 196 against NVIDIA’s 42, so NVIDIA looks cheaper on trailing earnings despite its scale.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) is the custom-silicon and AI-networking counterweight. AVGO’s Q2 FY26 AI semiconductor revenue hit $10.80 billion, up 143%, and management guided Q3 AI to $16 billion. Broadcom’s $1.82 trillion market cap makes NVIDIA’s $5 trillion cap look demanding, but NVIDIA’s $48.554 billion quarterly free cash flow dwarfs peer generation. The peer set makes our $262.81 target reasonable.

NVDA price target

The Bottom Line

The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $262.81 stays a buy at high confidence. Free cash flow of nearly $50 billion in a quarter buys forgiveness on multiple compression.

The setup rewards investors who tolerate a beta above 2 and want direct exposure to AI factory capex. Caution is warranted if hyperscaler capex guides roll over into 2027 or a China escalation forces inventory writedowns.

Extending the 24/7 Wall St. price target model forward using the base-case annualized return of 14.97%, here is where NVDA could trade if the AI trade stays intact and margin structure holds near current levels.

Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target
2026 $238
2027 $273
2028 $314
2029 $361
2030 $415

These projections assume NVIDIA continues converting Blackwell and Vera Rubin demand into free cash flow at current margin levels. Meaningful upside or downside could result from sovereign AI expansion, a full China Data Center reopening, or a hyperscaler capex reset.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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About the Author Vandita Jadeja →

Vandita Jadeja is a financial copywriter who loves to read and write about stocks. She believes in buying and holding for long term gains. Her knowledge of words and numbers helps her write clear stock analysis. She has contributed to several publications, including the Joy Wallet, Benzinga, The Motley Fool and InvestorPlace.

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