Two Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on Nvidia but the stock edged lower as momentum for the once red-hot shares of the graphics-chip maker continued to cool this week.
Bank of America raised its price target on Nvidia (ticker: NVDA) to $275 from $260. Analyst Vivek Arya maintained his Buy rating on the stock, saying in a note, which included a larger call on the sector, that certain chip makers are benefiting from pricing power and “disciplined supply.”
Arya also maintained Buy ratings on Microchip Technology (MCHP) and KLA Corp.(KLAC) and raised the price targets on both: Microchip to $185 from $170; KLA to $450 from $425.
Bank of America downgraded shares of Synopsys (SNPS),Cirrus Logic (CRUS) and Cree Inc. (CREE) to underperform from neutral.
Truist Securities, meanwhile, said Nvidia remains the firm’s “best large-cap growth idea.”
Analysts led by William Stein said they recently hosted an in-person meeting with Colette Kress, the company’s chief financial officer, and while “we do not believe NVDA made any new material disclosures …we gained incremental conviction on growth drivers in gaming, (reduced risk of crypto overhang), pro-viz, datacenter, and automotive.”
Truist raised its price target on the stock to $257 from $230.
Forty-one analysts surveyed by FactSet rate the stock at Overweight with an average price target of $230.52.
The optimism hasn’t helped Nvidia stock Friday. Shares were off 0.7% to $220.88 after declining more than 1.7% over the past five days. Still, the stock has gained almost 70% so far in 2021.
Investors have been eagerly awaiting a European Union ruling next month on Nvidia’s $40 billion plan to buy the chip technology maker Arm.
The EU has set Oct. 13 as the deadline to make a ruling on Nvidia’s plan to buy Arm.
“We are working through the regulatory process and we look forward to engaging with the European Commission to address any concerns they may have,” Nvidia said in a statement earlier in September. “This transaction will be beneficial to Arm, its licensees, competition, and the industry.”