The stock of Nvidia Corp. hit a new high on Tuesday, putting it on track for a record ninth week of gains. In the morning trading session, Nvidia NVDA, +0.59 percent shares hit a new intraday high of $833.68, outperforming the overall market. Before the lengthy Independence Day weekend, shares finished at a new high of $819.48, and a higher close Tuesday would make it the stock’s third session in a row of new high closes.
According to FactSet statistics, Nvidia shares have also completed a streak of seven straight weekly advances, something the stock hasn’t done since June 2017. Nvidia’s previous high point was seven weeks of gains: According to FactSet, while the stock has had several seven-week winning streaks in its history, it has never had an eight-week winning run. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processing units, which power cutting-edge videogames, but the company’s technology has recently grown increasingly influential in powering artificial intelligence and machine learning activities at the data center scale. In a Tuesday report, KeyBanc Capital Markets boosted its price objective on Nvidia stock to $950, citing signs that “gaming demand is robust and has not been inflated by crypto-mining demand with the launch of CMPs and healthy data center strengths.” Also see: The cryptocurrency rush is just the cherry on top of a fantastic year for Nvidia. CMPs (cryptocurrency mining processors) are special chips launched by Nvidia earlier this year to deter cryptocurrency miners from purchasing graphics cards intended for gamers. While Nvidia debuted a new generation of gaming cards late last year, many gamers were unable to obtain them due to significant shortages, which could have been exacerbated by crypto miners pursuing records in such coins as bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.07% and ethereum ETHUSD, +4.07 percent.
CMPs accounted for $155 million in quarterly sales in May, according to Nvidia, and were expected to climb to $400 million in the July-ending quarter. Nvidia shares have risen 110 percent in the last year, compared to a 62 percent gain on the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, -0.66 percent, a 36 percent increase on the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.55 percent, and a 40 percent gain on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.19 percent.
According to FactSet, 34 analysts covering Nvidia have buy ratings, five have hold ratings, and two have sell ratings, with an average target price of $742.62./n
