Nvidia shares dipped on Monday ahead of its first trading day following a 10-for-1 stock split and several price-target adjustments from Wall Street analysts.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), which recently surpassed Apple to become the world’s second-largest company by market value, started trading on a split-adjusted basis on the Nasdaq, opening at $120.38 per share.
The stock split, announced last month, followed a strong fiscal first-quarter earnings report featuring better-than-expected sales and robust demand projections for its new line of Blackwell processors. These processors are anticipated to power AI-related systems developed by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).
The split granted common shareholders nine additional shares for each original share, aiming to “make stock ownership more accessible to employees and investors.”
This move prompted a series of price-target adjustments from Wall Street analysts and fueled speculation that Nvidia might join the Dow Jones Industrial Average, now that its share price aligns more closely with other stocks in the 30-member benchmark.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who founded the company in 1993, has overseen the addition of over $1 trillion in market value over 74 trading days.
Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore lowered his rating on Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) from overweight to equal weight and adjusted his Nvidia price target to a split-adjusted $116 per share. He anticipates Nvidia will reduce chip and processor prices to maintain its market position against rivals.
“Lower Blackwell pricing, broader Hopper availability, and data-center power challenges could become more significant hurdles for Nvidia alternatives this year and next,” Moore said. “Our checks indicate Nvidia is focused on defending market share, accelerating their roadmap cadence, and becoming more aggressive with pricing.”
Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland raised his Nvidia price target to a split-adjusted $145 per share, noting that concerns about a potential sales gap between the launch and delivery of new Blackwell systems have been mitigated by ongoing demand for its legacy H100 Hopper chips.
Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis also increased his price target on Nvidia to a split-adjusted $145 per share and revised his current-year revenue forecast by $25 billion to $157.1 billion, with full-year earnings expected to be around $3.62 per share. Curtis highlighted greater sales opportunities from “sovereign AI demand,” where nation-states build data centers to train large language models for government functions.
Nvidia shares were down 0.25% in early Monday trading, priced at $120.59 each.
The reduced share price has sparked further speculation that Nvidia might be added to the Dow industrials this year or next, given its significant market impact and status as the world’s third-largest company by market value. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), with a market value of $130 billion and a 33% decline over the past five years compared to the benchmark’s 48% gain, is a likely candidate for replacement.
