Quick Summary
- Nvidia shares declined approximately 2.6% during premarket hours Thursday despite encouraging analyst feedback from GTC
- Raymond James increased its price objective to $323 from $291, keeping a Strong Buy recommendation
- Truist Securities boosted its target to $287 from $283, maintaining its Buy stance
- The chipmaker disclosed $1 trillion in aggregate GPU order visibility extending through 2027
- Analyst consensus stands at Strong Buy: 40 Buy recommendations, 1 Hold; mean target of $274.16
Shares of Nvidia experienced a decline of roughly 2.6% during Thursday’s premarket session on March 19, despite receiving upgraded price objectives from two prominent Wall Street firms following the company’s yearly GTC event.
The conference, described by Truist Securities analyst William Stein as “the Super Bowl of AI,” showcased product launches, strategic alliance announcements, and a significant revenue forecast update from company leadership.
Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold elevated his price objective to $323 from a previous $291, maintaining his Strong Buy recommendation. He highlighted Nvidia’s refreshed projection of $1 trillion in aggregate GPU revenue through 2027, suggesting this estimate might be on the conservative side.
Leopold noted that incorporating revenue from Vera Rubin Ultra and the Groq LPX platform could push total AI data center income through 2027 toward approximately $1.3 trillion.
Stein from Truist also elevated his price objective, adjusting it to $287 from $283, while reaffirming his Buy recommendation. His analysis emphasized three primary takeaways from the second day of the GTC conference.
Initially, company executives designated 2025 as “the year of inference,” signaling a marketplace transition from training-centric infrastructure to large-scale production inference deployment. Stein identified three demand catalysts: generative AI driving increased token consumption, OpenClaw generating what Nvidia terms a “ChatGPT moment” for Agentic AI applications, and accelerating expansion in physical AI initiatives including self-driving vehicles and humanoid robotics.
Additionally, Nvidia is emphasizing “tokenomics” — tokens per second per watt — as the critical performance benchmark for inference operations. The company is tackling this challenge with its rack-scale Vera Rubin solution, which allows clients to configure five distinct resource rack configurations.
$1 Trillion Revenue Visibility Disclosed
The standout announcement from GTC was Nvidia’s reported revenue visibility of $1 trillion stemming from Blackwell and Vera Rubin bookings extending through 2027. This represents an increase from the $500 billion through 2026 figure the company referenced previously.
Wall Street’s present data center revenue projection totals approximately $950 billion spanning 2025–2027. Stein anticipates “at least modest upside” for 2026 and 2027 based on management’s guidance.
He adjusted his calendar year 2027 data center revenue forecast upward to $468 billion from $439 billion. His earnings per share projection for that period increased to $11.48 from $10.12.
Notwithstanding the optimistic analyst sentiment, the stock failed to rally accordingly. NVDA traded down approximately 2.6% in premarket activity on Thursday morning.
Price Target and Analyst Consensus for NVDA
The Wall Street consensus rating for NVDA remains at Strong Buy, featuring 40 Buy ratings against a single Hold. The mean price objective stands at $274.16, suggesting roughly 52% potential upside from present price levels.
NVDA has gained 56% during the trailing 12 months but remains slightly over 3% negative on a year-to-date basis entering Thursday’s trading session.
The consensus analyst target of $274.16 falls meaningfully short of both the Raymond James and Truist objectives increased this week.
