NVIDIA Is Up 190% In 2016: Here's Why You Should 'Jump On Board' For 2017

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA has seen its stock soar a whopping 190 percent throughout 2016 and is outperforming some of 2015's hottest stocks. Meanwhile, analysts at Evercore ISI are expecting the buying frenzy in NVIDIA to continue throughout 2017.

Analyst's Commentary

C.J. Muse of Evercore ISI upgraded shares of NVIDIA to Buy from Hold with a $120 price target. The analyst noted that while his call is "very late," it is certainly "not too late to jump [on]board."

Muse noted that semiconductor stocks as a whole remain attractive, as their multiples are below the broader market and inexpensive compared to most other cyclicals.

Moreover, the semiconductor group only began outperforming the broader market in July of this year. Fiscal stimulus and tax reforms could result in continued outperformance, which prompted the analyst to suggested the semiconductor space is undergoing a new cycle in its eighth year of recovery.

6 Supporting Factors

Specific to Nividia, the analyst highlighted six key points to support his bullish stance on the stock:

• Artificial intelligence and deep learning is still in the early stages.
• GPUs will continue to dominate training.
• The analyst is modeling $5+ in earnings per share in 2018 and 2019.
• Any weakness in the stock will be bought by investors.
• NVIDIA remains the best growth story in semiconductors.
• The Street's low consensus estimates for 2017 and 2018 appear beatable.

At last check, NVIDIA shares were up 5.55 percent on the day at $96.23.

Image Credit: Ra Boe / Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 de or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons