Key Takeaways
- NVDA shares dropped approximately 2.6% during pre-market hours Thursday despite encouraging analyst commentary after GTC
- Raymond James increased its price objective to $323 from $291, keeping a Strong Buy recommendation
- Truist elevated its target to $287 from $283, maintaining its Buy rating
- The chipmaker disclosed $1 trillion in aggregate GPU order visibility extending through 2027
- Street consensus remains Strong Buy: 40 Buy recommendations, 1 Hold; mean target $274.16
Shares of Nvidia experienced a decline of approximately 2.6% during pre-market activity on Thursday, March 19, despite a pair of prominent Wall Street analysts elevating their price objectives following the chipmaker’s yearly GTC conference.
The conference, which Truist’s William Stein characterized as “the Super Bowl of AI,” showcased product reveals, partnership disclosures, and a substantial revenue visibility announcement from company leadership.
Raymond James’ Simon Leopold elevated his price objective to $323 from $291, maintaining his Strong Buy recommendation. He highlighted Nvidia’s revised projection for $1 trillion in aggregate GPU sales extending through 2027, suggesting that estimate might actually be understated.
Leopold noted that when accounting for Vera Rubin Ultra and the Groq LPX contributions, aggregate AI data center revenue through 2027 could potentially approach $1.3 trillion.
Truist’s Stein similarly increased his objective, adjusting it to $287 from $283, while reaffirming a Buy recommendation. His analysis highlighted three primary themes emerging from GTC’s second day.
Initially, company leadership proclaimed 2025 as “the year of inference,” signaling a market transition from training-centric infrastructure to large-scale production inference deployment. Stein identified three demand catalysts: generative AI driving token consumption growth, OpenClaw generating what Nvidia describes as a “ChatGPT moment” for Agentic AI, and accelerating expansion in physical AI applications including autonomous vehicles and humanoid robotics.
Additionally, Nvidia is emphasizing “tokenomics” — tokens processed per second per watt — as the critical performance benchmark for inference operations. The organization is tackling this challenge with its rack-scale Vera Rubin platform, enabling customers to configure combinations of five distinct resource rack configurations.
$1 Trillion Revenue Visibility Announcement
The marquee revelation from GTC was Nvidia’s announcement of $1 trillion in revenue visibility stemming from Blackwell and Vera Rubin commitments through 2027. This represents an increase from the $500 billion through 2026 figure the company referenced previously.
Wall Street’s present data center revenue projections total approximately $950 billion spanning 2025–2027. Stein anticipates “at least modest upside” for 2026 and 2027 based on management’s statements.
He adjusted his calendar year 2027 data center revenue projection upward to $468 billion from $439 billion. His earnings per share forecast for that period increased to $11.48 from $10.12.
Notwithstanding the optimistic analyst sentiment, the equity failed to mirror that enthusiasm. NVDA traded down roughly 2.6% ahead of Thursday’s market opening.
NVDA Price Objectives and Street Consensus
The Street consensus for NVDA continues to be Strong Buy, featuring 40 Buy recommendations and a single Hold. The mean price objective stands at $274.16, suggesting approximately 52% potential upside from present trading levels.
NVDA has advanced 56% during the trailing 12 months but remains more than 3% lower year-to-date entering Thursday’s trading session.
The mean analyst objective of $274.16 falls meaningfully below both the Raymond James and Truist targets elevated this week.
