Nvidia Becomes World's Most Valuable Company Again as AI Boom Lifts Stock
Nvidia stock soared to new heights on Wednesday, allowing the company to once again become the most valuable publicly traded firm in the world. The California-based chipmaker saw its shares climb more than 4%, hitting a record price of $154.10. That surge brought Nvidia's total market capitalization to $3.76 trillion, pushing it ahead of Microsoft, which was valued at $3.65 trillion after a smaller 0.2% gain in its share price.
The recent rally in Nvidia's stock was largely driven by a positive report from Loop Capital. The financial firm raised its price target for Nvidia to $250, up from $175, while maintaining a strong "buy" recommendation. Loop Capital analyst Ananda Baruah wrote that the market is entering what he described as a "Golden Wave" of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) adoption. He added that Nvidia is in a leading position to benefit from the next major phase of AI-driven demand for advanced computing hardware.
This enthusiasm for Nvidia reflects renewed investor interest in artificial intelligence, a trend that has sparked enormous gains in technology and semiconductor stocks over the last few years. Nvidia's chips are considered among the best for running complex AI models, and demand continues to climb as industries adopt AI tools more widely.
Interestingly, despite its steep rise, Nvidia's valuation still appears reasonable to some investors. The company is currently trading at around 30 times projected earnings for the next year, based on data from LSEG. That is below its five-year average price-to-earnings ratio of 40, indicating that Nvidia's strong earnings growth is keeping pace with its rising stock price.
Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple have been competing for the title of the world's most valuable company over the past year. Microsoft recently held the top spot after overtaking Nvidia earlier in June. Meanwhile, Apple's stock also edged up by 0.4% on Wednesday, placing its total valuation at $3.0 trillion.
Nvidia's rebound has been especially notable considering it had dropped significantly in April. The fall came after comments from former President Donald Trump about global tariffs, which triggered market jitters. However, Nvidia has since gained over 60% from its April low, fueled by investor optimism that the U.S. government will resolve trade disputes and avoid damaging tariffs on tech imports.
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