Nvidia (NVDA) Stock Slides in Pre-Market Despite Analysts Hiking Targets Post-GTC

Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

Shares of NVDA declined approximately 2.6% during premarket hours Thursday, bucking optimistic analyst sentiment from GTC
Raymond James boosted its price objective to $323 from a previous $291, keeping its Strong Buy recommendation
Truist Securities increased its target to $287 from $283, maintaining its Buy stance
The chipmaker disclosed $1 trillion in total GPU order pipeline extending through 2027
Analyst consensus remains overwhelmingly bullish: 40 Buy recommendations, 1 Hold; mean target $274.16

Shares of Nvidia experienced a decline of approximately 2.6% during premarket hours Thursday, March 19, contradicting the upbeat sentiment from two major Wall Street firms that elevated their price objectives following the chip giant’s GTC annual conference.

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA

The conference, described by Truist Securities analyst William Stein as “the Super Bowl of AI,” showcased new product rollouts, strategic collaborations, and significant forward revenue guidance from company leadership.

Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold increased his price objective to $323 from a prior $291, maintaining his Strong Buy recommendation. Leopold highlighted the company’s disclosed visibility into $1 trillion worth of cumulative GPU shipments extending through 2027, suggesting this estimate may actually be understated.

The market won’t be able to keep $NVDA below $200 much longer.
Jensen is clearly building for the inference era with Rubin handling attention-heavy workloads and Groq powering low-latency token generation.
The AI engine just keeps humming. pic.twitter.com/0ri6ro9n76
— Shay Boloor (@StockSavvyShay) March 17, 2026

Leopold noted that incorporating contributions from the Vera Rubin Ultra platform and Groq LPX systems, aggregate AI data center revenue spanning through 2027 could approach $1.3 trillion.

Stein from Truist Securities similarly lifted his target, adjusting it to $287 from $283, while reaffirming his Buy recommendation. His analysis emphasized three central themes emerging from the second day of GTC presentations.

Primarily, company executives characterized 2025 as “the year of inference,” signaling an industry transition from training-centric infrastructure to large-scale production inference deployment. Stein identified three catalysts driving demand: generative AI applications increasing token consumption, OpenClaw triggering what Nvidia describes as a “ChatGPT moment” for Agentic AI systems, and accelerating momentum in physical AI implementations including self-driving vehicles and humanoid robotics.

Secondarily, Nvidia is prioritizing “tokenomics” — measured as tokens per second per watt — as the critical benchmark for inference efficiency. The corporation is tackling this challenge through its rack-scale Vera Rubin infrastructure, offering customers flexibility to configure five distinct resource rack configurations.

$1 Trillion Revenue Pipeline Revealed

The standout announcement from GTC was Nvidia’s confirmation of $1 trillion in revenue pipeline based on committed Blackwell and Vera Rubin orders extending through 2027. This represents a substantial increase from the $500 billion through 2026 figure referenced during last year’s presentation.

Current Wall Street projections for data center revenue total approximately $950 billion spanning 2025 through 2027. Stein anticipates “at least modest upside” for 2026 and 2027 based on management’s disclosures.

He adjusted his calendar year 2027 data center revenue projection upward to $468 billion from a previous $439 billion estimate. His corresponding EPS forecast for that period increased to $11.48 from $10.12.

Despite the constructive analyst commentary, shares failed to gain traction. NVDA traded down approximately 2.6% in premarket activity Thursday.

Price Target Consensus and Outlook for NVDA

The Street’s consensus rating for NVDA remains Strong Buy, comprising 40 Buy ratings against a single Hold. The mean price target sits at $274.16, suggesting approximately 52% potential appreciation from recent trading levels.

NVDA has advanced 56% over the trailing twelve months but remains slightly negative for the year-to-date period entering Thursday’s trading session.

The consensus analyst target of $274.16 falls considerably beneath both the Raymond James and Truist objectives announced this week.