Small investors buy Nvidia in record numbers after Thursday’s open
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Retail investors rushed into Nvidia on Thursday following the chipmaker’s latest earnings report, according to VandaTrack.
Mom-and-pop traders recorded their highest levels of net buying in the stock during the first 80 minutes of a trading day going back to at least 2012, according to analyst Viraj Patel. Retail is not behind the selling that led to a lackluster reaction to the blockbuster results, Patel said.
There’s a caveat: Patel said there’s strong selling in addition to buying in the chipmaker. That can help explain the stock’s rocky action in morning trading, he added.
“Flows have been two-way,” Patel wrote in a Thursday note. “Total retail turnover in [Nvidia] has been pretty epic too at the start of the session.”
Thursday’s action comes on the heels of the AI darling’s earnings, which beat analyst expectations and came with strong guidance. Nvidia also reported 75% revenue growth in its core data center business, which helped drive the company’s overall sales up 73%.
Despite trading modestly higher before the bell, shares were lower by more than 4% in midday trading.
Nvidia, 1-day chart
Broadcom, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) have seen “spillover buying” as retail investors up their activity more broadly, Patel said.
“If this continues, then we may be on track for one of the biggest days of retail buying of single stocks in months, which matters a lot for the overall risk view,” Patel said.
To be sure, everyday traders were relatively reserved heading into Nvidia’s report. Average daily net flow over the five-day window ahead of the release was $94 million, around half of what was seen in the runup to the prior report, Vanda said Wednesday.
Nvidia has been a top stock for retail investors since 2023, Vanda data shows. Despite Thursday’s slide, Wall Street is bullish on the path ahead: The typical analyst polled by LSEG has a buy rating and price target suggesting shares can jump more than 35% over the next 12 months.
