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The Best Chip Stock Post NVIDIA Earnings: NVDA, AMD or INTC?

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Wall Street darling NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) recently reported its fiscal second-quarter results, following which its shares dipped. Does this mean that NVIDIA has lost its sheen to arch-rivals Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD - Free Report) and Intel Corporation (INTC - Free Report) in the semiconductor space? Or, does it still have the potential to increase shareholders’ wealth soon? Let’s examine –  

NVIDIA Stock – Earnings Top, Shares Drop

NVIDIA recently posted blowout second-quarter fiscal 2025 revenues and net income that easily surpassed analysts’ estimates. For the quarter ending on July 28, 2024, earnings per share for the chipmaker came in at $0.68, up 11% from the prior quarter and up 152% year over year. 

Total reported revenues were $30 billion, up 15% from the previous quarter and 122% from a year ago. Revenues of each segment, such as data center, gaming, professional visualization, and robotics were up from the previous quarter and year.

Strong demand for existing Hopper chips and shipping of next-generation Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to be launched later this year boosted NVIDIA’s quarterly results. 

However, despite such promising quarterly results, NVIDIA’s shares dipped 6.4% in Thursday’s trading and were 2.1% lower on Wednesday. This is because the performance expectations were much higher as the NVIDIA stock is currently the S&P 500’s best performer this year.

Why You Shouldn’t Sell NVIDIA Stock

The share price drop at the moment is just a blip for NVIDIA. This is because if we look at the broader picture, with the Federal Reserve all set to trim interest rates in the September policy meeting, NVIDIA’s capital expenditure outlays on AI-related infrastructure are expected to increase. 

AI is a growing field, with the industry expected to expand from $214.6 billion in the current year to $1,339.1 billion by 2030, per MarketsandMarkets.

While the Blackwell AI chip launch will give NVIDIA a competitive edge over its peers, its gaming graphic processing units (GPU) product line, GeForce, is expected to help NVIDIA penetrate the growing gaming market. NVIDIA’s initiative to enter the industrial metaverse space with the help of Siemens is also a tailwind for the company. 

Concerns With AMD Stock

Like NVIDIA, Advanced Micro Devices also makes semiconductors and is trying to enter the gaming space. However, NVIDIA is way ahead of Advanced Micro Devices, whose latest quarterly revenues were minuscule compared to that of NVIDIA. In the recently reported quarter, Advanced Micro Devices’ total revenues increased just 9% from a year ago.

Advanced Micro Devices is investing heavily in AI, but unlike NVIDIA, they are late to the party. Any AI investment takes a long period to generate returns on the invested capital. Moreover, Advanced Micro Devices hasn’t poured money into the necessary AI infrastructure, which can be an issue for the company in the long run.

Anyhow, Advanced Micro Devices is losing the competition with NVIDIA. Per data from Jon Peddie Research, Advanced Micro Devices’ market shares in GPUs have fallen from 35% to 12% over the past decade, while NVIDIA’s shares have risen from 65% to 88%.

INTC Stock – Stands No Chance in the Competition

While NVIDIA is in a league of its own, Intel is struggling to compete with Advanced Micro Devices, which has seen some progress in the production of high-performance processing machinery.

Intel is in dire straits after failing to progress in the foundry business. Intel failed to make the most of the ever-expanding AI applications industry, where most of its peers are doing reasonably well.

Intel’s server and networking segment is also being disrupted by Arm Holdings plc (ARM - Free Report) . Many of ARM’s designs in the micro server segment have been accepted by Intel’s competitors. Intel’s shares never fully recovered from the dot-com bubble burst and currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here

NVIDIA Stock – Fundamentals Much Stronger

NVIDIA has generated profits more proficiently than Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. This is because the NVIDIA stock has a return on equity (ROE) of 124.6%, while Advanced Micro Devices and Intel have an ROE of 6% and 1.8%, respectively. As a thumb rule, any reading above 20% is considered very good.

NVIDIA’s net profit margin is 55%, way more than Advanced Micro Devices and Intel’s 5.8% and 1.8%, respectively. Any reading above the threshold of 20% signifies the company has been able to keep operation costs under control and generate profit from sales. As a result, the $2.71 Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVIDIA’s earnings per share is up 74.8% year over year.

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NVIDIA Stock – Trading Above 200DMA

From a technical perspective, the NVIDIA stock has been constantly trading above its 200-day moving average (DMA) so far this year, indicating a long-term uptrend.

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On the other hand, the prices of Advanced Micro Devices and Intel have fallen below the 200 DMA this year, a tell-tale sign of a persistent downtrend.

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Strong Price Upside for NVIDIA Stock

With NVIDIA’s shares exhibiting a bullish trend and the stock faring much better than Advanced Micro Devices and Intel in the AI space and beyond, notable brokers have increased the average short-term price target of NVDA by 13.5% from the stock’s last closing price of $125.61. The analysts’ highest price target is at $200.

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Hence, despite the recent hiccups, investors should hang on to the NVIDIA stock more than Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, as AI is here to stay (read more: 2 AI Stocks That Can Be the Next NVIDIA).

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