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Nvidia said demand for its AI chips was surging, as it forecast $11 billion revenue in the current quarter.
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Nvidia
‘s earnings forecast for the second quarter pushed shares of other chip makers and artificial intelligence-exposed companies higher early Thursday morning.
While Nvidia (ticker: NVDA) beat earnings expectations in its first quarter, it was the company’s outlook that really turned heads. Revenue in the current quarter is expected to be $11 billion, plus or minus 2%, above the $7.2 billion consensus expectation of analysts on FactSet.
Investors are taking the surging demand for Nvidia’s AI chips as a positive sign for the sector in general.
Palantir Technologies
(PLTR) rose 2.3% and
Arista Networks
(ANET) surged 8.2%. Shares in
Microsoft
(MSFT) and
Alphabet
(GOOGL) were up 2.7% and 1.6% respectively.
The forecast also boosted shares of rival semiconductor companies that also have exposure to AI.
Advanced Micro Devices
(AMD) rose 8.8% and
Micron Technology
(MU) was up 2.3%.
Nvidia shares, meanwhile, are up 25% to $381.24 on Thursday. Many positive notes from Wall Street were helping to propel shares.
Nvidia’s earnings “lived up the generative AI hype,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analysts said. They lifted their price target on the stock to $500 from $375, noting that the chip maker “remains uniquely positioned to benefit from AI/machine-learning secular data-center growth.” The analysts have an Overweight rating on shares.
Susquehanna analysts called Nvidia’s results “one of the greatest beats of all time.” They raised their price target to $450 from $350 and reiterated an equivalent of a Buy rating on shares. “It looks like the new gold rush is upon us, and Nvidia is selling all the picks and shovels,” they said.
Piper Sandler
analysts also raised their price target on Nvidia shares to $440 from $300 and kept their Overweight rating.
Oppenheimer
analysts raised their price target to $420 from $350 and maintained an Outperform rating. The company’s strong performance is “paving the path” for it to become the first $1 trillion semiconductor, the analysts said. As of Wednesday’s close, the company’s market capitalization was around $750 billion.
Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com