(Bloomberg) -- Nvidia Corp. rallied to a record on Thursday, in the latest example of the chipmaker extending a 2021 gain that has seen the stock more than double.
The stock gained 8.3% and was on track for its longest winning streak since June. The shares have gained nearly 18% over the six-day advance, and are up 45% from a low in early October. Nvidia is up almost 120% this year, making it the biggest gainer in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index, which is up 31%.
Retail investors have taken note of the company’s surge, according to data from Vanda Research. In the latest week, “retail investors chased rallies in high flying semiconductor names” like Nvidia, the firm wrote in a note dated Nov. 3. After October’s equity gains were driven by institutional investors, a fear of missing out “appears to be kicking in.”
The advance has resulted in a market valuation of about $718 billion, to make Nvidia the seventh-largest member of the S&P 500 Index. At the end of 2020, Nvidia’s market cap was about $323 billion, and did not qualify to be among the 15 biggest names in the benchmark U.S. equity index.
Thursday’s rally came after Wells Fargo Securities raised its price target to $320 from $245, seeing the metaverse as a sizable opportunity for the chipmaker.
“We see Nvidia Omniverse as a key enabler / platform for the development of the metaverse across a wide range of vertical apps,” wrote analyst Aaron Rakers. He added that the metaverse could represent a $10 billion incremental market opportunity for the company over the next five years, and in the longer term, “the market opportunity could be even greater as digital assets and digital twins become significant economic drivers.”
The gain in Nvidia comes ahead of the release of its third-quarter results, expected later this month.
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