Nvidia’s Latest Move is a Green Light to Keep Loading Up
Nvidia just unlocked nearly $100 billion in buyback firepower while demand for its chips outstrips supply through 2028, and the valuation tells a story most investors are reading backwards.
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NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) just expanded its capital return program, adding another data point to its long-term investment case.
My thesis is simple. Every AI lab, cloud provider, and government needs the machinery NVIDIA makes, and it can’t build enough of it. Management said on the August call that “NVIDIA Compute is fully utilized across every cloud we serve,” and it expects supply to remain a bottleneck at least through the end of fiscal year 2028. A business sold out for years carries unusual revenue visibility.
Buyback Firepower Signals Management Confidence
The board added $80.0 billion to the repurchase authorization in May 2026, leaving about $99.0 billion available at the end of Q2 FY2027. That quarter, NVIDIA returned a record $26 billion: $20 billion in buybacks and $6 billion in dividends. Against a plan to return 50% or more of free cash flow, it returned 60% year to date, and management said it intends to “increase and return excess free cash flow net of strategic uses.” The quarterly dividend also rose from $0.01 to $0.25 per share. Every share retired with internally generated cash gives remaining shareholders a bigger claim on future profits.
Three Numbers Driving NVIDIA’s Momentum
Growth is accelerating. Q2 revenue hit $96.22 billion, up 105.85% year over year, the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth. Guidance calls for $108.0 billion next quarter, with preliminary fiscal 2028 growth of about 70%.
Each generation makes more. Revenue per gigawatt rose from $18 billion for Hopper to $25 billion for Blackwell and $40 billion for Vera Rubin, now in full production.
The balance sheet is a strong. Debt to equity is at 0.0726, interest coverage at 503.4x, and return on invested capital near 92.2%. Q2 EPS of $2.22 topped the $2.09 consensus, the 5th consecutive beat.
How NVIDIA Stacks Up Against AMD and Broadcom
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) trades near 40 times forward earnings versus NVIDIA’s 25, with a trailing operating margin of 17.2% against NVIDIA’s 66.2%. AMD carries a higher valuation alongside lower profitability.
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) looks cheaper at about 19 times forward earnings and yields 0.74%. Yet its return on equity of 44.3% trails NVIDIA’s 117.2%, and its latest quarterly revenue growth of 85.5% falls behind NVIDIA’s 105.9%. NVIDIA’s modest valuation premium comes with faster growth and higher returns.
Risk I Track Every Quarter
Supply obligations reached $279.0 billion, mostly memory for Vera Rubin, and guarantee obligations for partners are capped at $108.5 billion. Days sales outstanding stretched to 60 days from 45. A pause in AI spending could make those commitments hurt, and the price to free cash flow of 57 leaves little margin.
Guidance already excludes China data center compute revenue. Balancing that risk, top-five hyperscaler capex is expected to reach nearly $800 billion in 2026 and $1.3 trillion in 2027. Somebody has to power, cool, and network all that spending. We rounded up seven suppliers riding the same wave in a free AI infrastructure report.
Catalysts Ahead of the November Report
Vera Rubin should make up about 20% of data center revenue in Q3, and the next earnings report lands November 17. Keep an eye on whether Vera Rubin’s ramp and continued buybacks keep pace with management’s free cash flow return targets.
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Alex Sirois is a financial writer with experience spanning both retail and institutional investing. He has written for InvestorPlace and held roles at BNY Mellon and Bernstein, giving him a perspective that bridges Main Street portfolios and Wall Street analysis.
Alex holds an MBA from George Washington University and has built his career across multiple industries, including e-commerce, education, and translation — a breadth of experience that informs how he breaks down complex financial topics for everyday investors. His writing is conversational, actionable, and grounded in long-term, buy-and-hold investing principles.
At 247 Wall St., Alex focuses on delivering analysis that is both accessible and useful, with a clear emphasis on helping readers make more informed decisions with their money.
