On Wednesday, one of the biggest stories in the market was news that AI darling NVIDIA (NVDA) surged past Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in market cap while also becoming the third company to reach the $3 trillion market cap milestone.
Now, market observers see Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) as the next company NVIDIA will surpass on its way to $5 trillion in market cap.
"On Wednesday Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) ($3.012 trillion) passed Apple ($3.003 trillion) in market capitalization and will soon likely pass Microsoft ($3.151 trillion) in market capitalization in the upcoming weeks," analysts stated. "I expect that Nvidia will become the first company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion in the next couple of years."
After Friday's close, NVIDIA will split its stock 10-for-1. The stock could become eligible for inclusion in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after the split.
Analysts have been bullish on the company's execution and AI prospects. On Wednesday, BofA Securities analysts reiterated NVIDIA as its top sector pick with a street-high price target of $1500. They see the company as best positioned to deliver AI services and are not worried about competition. "Despite claims by rivals (AMD, Intel, custom chips or ASICs) we see NVDA with a multi-year lead in performance, pipeline (Blackwell, successors), incumbency, scale and developer support (5mn+)," analysts stated.
To put the potential $5 trillion market cap in perspective, that would equal a stock price of $2032, or 66% above current levels. Post split, this would equal about $203 per share.