By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - Nvidia surged Monday after receiving a vote of confidence from Wall Street ahead of its earnings due later this week.
RBC raised its price target on Nvidia to a Street-high $301 from $251, representing about a 15% upside from current prices. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose 4%.
"We raise our estimates on Nvidia as we think the Jan-quarter will come in a bit ahead of the high-end of guide due to better than expected gaming and data center demand. That said, we do not see a change to seasonal patterns for April due to macro concerns," RBC said.
The bank, citing recent checks, is betting that both gaming and data center demand came in better than expected when compared consensus estimates and believes that operating margins will improve to more than 40% by mid-year 2020.
RBC raised its revenue estimate on Nvidia's gaming business, which drives the bulk of growth, to $1.56 billion, above current consensus of $1.51 billion and forecasts the data center business to generate $880 million, above the Street's $830 million consensus estimate.
"Overall, our checks suggest the holiday season for Nvidia was better than expected and data center demand is improving," RBC said.
The upbeat note comes amid increasing confidence that the headwinds for the company over the past year (including weaker demand for graphic card sales, following a glut in inventory, and data center products) have faded somewhat.
Both Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) reported strong quarters for their respective data-center businesses, suggesting recent optimism over data sales is not without merit.
Nvidia, up 11% for the year so far, reports earnings on Thursday after markets close.