Nvidia Announces Largest Buyback In History. Cramer Says “It Will Change Trajectory Of The Stock” If The Buyback Is Active
Jim Cramer spent months demanding a bigger buyback from Nvidia, and when the company finally delivered a record-shattering authorization, Cramer immediately placed a condition on it that could make or break the stock's direction.
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
NVIDIA’s $150 Billion Number
Jim Cramer spent September asking for a bigger buyback, and on September 28, 2026 he got one. The chipmaker, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction), announced plans to add a record-setting $150 billion to its stock buy back program. That new money sits on top of existing authorizations, and Cramer put the combined total at $238 billion in his CNBC commentary on the announcement. The $150 billion is an authorization: permission to repurchase shares, with the pace left to management.
Cramer attached his own condition right away: “If they’re active and in there every day, it will change the trajectory of the stock.”
What It Means for NVIDIA’s Cash Machine
The authorization is only as strong as the cash behind it, and NVIDIA’s cash generation is accelerating. In its second quarter of fiscal 2027, reported August 26, 2026, free cash flow reached $21.34 billion, up 58.43% year over year, on operating cash flow of $24.08 billion.
Shareholder returns are already climbing. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said on the call: “In Q2, we returned a record $26 billion to shareholders, $20 billion through share repurchases, and $6 billion through our quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share.” She added that against a plan to return 50% or more of free cash flow, the company had returned 60% year to date, and that “going forward, we intend to increase and return excess free cash flow net of strategic uses.”
The measure is straightforward. NVIDIA’s cash flow statement shows repurchases of about $40.1 billion in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, and about $33.7 billion the year before. At that fiscal 2026 pace, the combined pot equals roughly five to six years of buying. That figure is a simple comparison to last year’s pace; management controls the actual timing, and the $20 billion repurchased in the second quarter alone shows the pace is already rising.
Market Reaction
Shares traded up 3.34% at $232.58 early on announcement day. By late morning, a delayed quote showed the stock at $228.8, up 1.66% from $225.07. On that quote, NVIDIA is up 22.97% year to date and 29.07% over one year.
Bull Case
The classic worry about big buybacks is that they arrive when growth fades. A CNBC panelist raised exactly that concern before earnings, pointing to how Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) began buying back stock as its growth slowed to the low teens. NVIDIA’s numbers point the other way. Second-quarter revenue hit $96.22 billion, up 105.8% year over year and ahead of the $92.07 billion consensus. Non-GAAP EPS of $2.22 exceeded the $2.09 estimate, the 5th consecutive beat. Net income reached $59.69 billion, and non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 75.0% from 72.5%.
Guidance calls for third-quarter revenue of $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%, and Kress said the company expects to “grow revenue by approximately 70% in fiscal 2028,” which she called “a supply-constrained outlook.” The balance sheet carries a debt-to-equity ratio of just 0.073.
Cramer’s template is Apple under former CFO Luca Maestri, who “was always there when the stock dropped” and “gobbled it up.” Cramer has said Apple’s share count fell by more than 40% since 2011. NVIDIA now has 24.147 billion shares outstanding and a trailing P/E of 45, while Cramer argued on September 3, 2026 that the stock sells at less than 15 times next year’s earnings estimates.
The execution risk is real. Cramer noted that “at times they can’t buy back stock in the last ten minutes” because zero-day options activity blocks the stock. Cash also competes with $279.00 billion in supply obligations and nearly $50 billion invested in frontier AI labs.
Bottom Line
For investors in for the long haul, the $150 billion boost signals a company generating more cash than its growth plans absorb, while revenue still doubles. The next checkpoint is the fiscal third-quarter earnings report, where NVIDIA has guided to $108.0 billion in revenue, and the repurchase line in that filing will show whether the company is buying at a daily pace. Meanwhile, the $0.25 quarterly dividend pays on October 1, 2026. Cramer got his record authorization. The spending pace will decide whether he gets his direction change.
Data Sources
- CNBC: Nvidia share buyback plan gets $150 billion boost: Cramer’s $238 billion combined total and his daily-buying condition.
- Same source: Cramer’s Luca Maestri and Apple framing for opportunistic repurchases.
- Same source: announcement-day share price of $232.58 and 3.34% gain.
- Same source: the zero-day options constraint on late-session buying.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
AJ spent 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics, that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.
