NVIDIA Hits Another All-Time High... Market Cap Threatens Amazon for 4th Place (Update)

Nvidia, a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, once again hit an all-time high on the 5th (local time), edging closer to surpassing Amazon, the 4th largest company by market capitalization. This came as a result of global investment bank Goldman Sachs raising its target price. Despite the overall decline in the U.S. New York stock market, Nvidia surged nearly 5%, demonstrating its strength. Some analysts predict that as the AI era fully unfolds, Nvidia could compete with Microsoft (MS) and Apple for the top spot in market capitalization.

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On that day, Nvidia's stock price closed at $693.32, up 4.79% from the previous trading day in the U.S. New York stock market. This marked the third consecutive trading day of record highs since the 1st.

Accordingly, Nvidia's market capitalization increased to $1.7125 trillion. Currently, Nvidia ranks 5th among U.S. companies by market cap. The gap between Nvidia and Amazon, which holds 4th place with a market cap of $1.7691 trillion, is only about $56.6 billion, leading to widespread expectations that Nvidia will soon overtake Amazon to become the 4th largest company by market cap.

The news that Goldman Sachs raised its target price pushed Nvidia's stock price higher. Goldman Sachs raised Nvidia's 12-month target price from $625 to $800, indicating an additional upside potential of 21% from the current price level.

Goldman Sachs expects strong demand for AI servers and data center graphics processing units (GPUs) to continue driving Nvidia's stock price upward. They also raised Nvidia's earnings forecasts for 2025-2026 by an average of 22%. In particular, they noted that companies like MS and Meta, Facebook's parent company, have begun showing signs of monetization in their AI businesses.

While Nvidia is generating significant profits from the AI boom, the sluggish stock performance of other semiconductor companies like Intel, which lag behind in AI semiconductor manufacturing, is also seen as a factor enhancing Nvidia's investment appeal.

Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari stated, "Considering Nvidia's strong hardware and software offerings and continuous pace of innovation, it is expected to maintain its industry standard status in the near future."

Nvidia's stock price surged 239% last year and has already risen 40% this year. Its 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio (PER) stands at 31.4 times, significantly higher than the industry average of 22.9 times. Although the stock price has already risen substantially, Goldman Sachs believes there is still considerable room for growth.

Investors are focusing on Nvidia's earnings report to be released later this month. Nvidia is scheduled to announce its Q4 results for last year, ending in January, on the 21st.

Some also speculate that Nvidia could compete with MS and Apple for the top market capitalization spot in the future. Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at Phoenix Financial Services, said, "Nvidia is similar to Intel in the early 1980s and MS in the early 1990s," adding, "Nvidia could become a contender for the world's most valuable company within five years."

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