We recently published a list of 10 Best Upside Stocks To Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) stands against other best upside stocks to buy right now.
On March 8, Bob Elliott, Co-Founder, CEO, and CIO of Unlimited, and Kara Murphy, CIO of Kestra Investment Management, joined ‘Closing Bell Overtime’ on CNBC to talk about the week’s market action. In a discussion on whether stocks or gold were the better choice in the current economic climate, Bob Elliott noted that stocks were facing tough circumstances due to elevated expectations at the start of the year, which had begun to adjust downward. He highlighted concerns about fiscal tightening, tariff volatility, and weaker employment conditions. However, he emphasized that these factors were overshadowed by potential tax policy changes, immigration restrictions, and efforts to curb federal spending, which could impact nominal GDP growth. Kara Murphy was asked about diversification, which is a topic that gained traction after a prolonged period where mega-caps and tech stocks dominated returns. She pointed out that diversification had been undervalued for two years but was now proving its worth as bonds and international funds outperformed US stocks. Murphy suggested that a diversified portfolio was essential for navigating the market, as it was no longer reliant on just a few high-performing stocks.
The conversation then turned to the push-and-pull between monetary and fiscal policies. Elliott discussed the volatility caused by rapid changes in policy, such as tariffs, which made it difficult for investors to have high conviction in any direction. This volatility was forcing professional money managers to reduce risk, which led to a decrease in long positions in leveraged investments and a reduction in short interest positions. Elliott highlighted the challenge of finding incremental buyers for risk assets in such an uncertain environment. Murphy reflected on the market’s valuation at the start of the year, and noted that while valuations were high, they alone were not a reliable timing indicator for market corrections. She emphasized that earnings momentum would be crucial in the second half of the year, with a potential shift in relative strength from the MAG7 stocks to other parts of the market. Murphy cautioned that high expectations meant companies needed to continue meeting those expectations to sustain market performance.
As the discussion underscored the complexities and uncertainties of the current market environment, it emphasized the importance of diversification in investment strategies.
Methodology
We first sifted through stock screeners, online rankings, and internet lists to compile a list of the best stocks with analysts’ upside potentials over 50%, as of March 10. We then selected the 10 stocks that were the most popular among elite hedge funds and that analysts were bullish on. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A close-up of a colorful high-end graphics card being plugged in to a gaming computer.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Upside Potential as of March 10: 55.29%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 223
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) delivers cutting-edge graphics, compute, and networking solutions globally. From powering immersive gaming experiences and professional visualization to revolutionizing data centers and autonomous vehicles, NVIDIA’s technologies, including its renowned GPUs and AI platforms, are essential for a wide range of industries and applications.
The company’s FY25 revenue more than doubled year-over-year and generated $115.2 billion. In FQ4 2025, revenue reached a record $35.6 billion, which was a 93% year-over-year increase. This surge came from the data center segment, which was driven by Blackwell and Hopper 200 products. Blackwell sales hit $11 billion in FQ4, which was fueled by customers scaling infrastructure with massive GPU clusters and surging inference demand. Blackwell offers performance and cost advantages over Hopper 100.
On March 4, Bernstein reiterated an Outperform rating on the company with a $185 price target. Despite AI market concerns, Bernstein is optimistic on the company due to $11 billion in January Blackwell sales. The strong sales signal demand and easing supply issues previously seen. They dismissed concerns about DeepSeek impacting AI demand and highlighted multiple catalysts, which include rising spending intentions, a new product cycle, and the upcoming GTC event, which is NVIDIA Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPU Technology Conference.
Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund is highly bullish on NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) due to its dominant position in AI and data center technology, strong financial results, and continued innovation. It stated the following in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in compute and networking systems for accelerated computing and AI. Shares increased 10.6% for the quarter and were up 170.3% in 2024, on strong quarterly results, with record data center revenue, which surpassed $30 billion, driven by demand for its Hopper GPUs, while Gaming and Automotive also beat expectations. Key investor debates include the continued progress on improving the capability of AI models (e.g. scaling laws – see more in the outlook section below), transition from AI training to inference and the potential impact on competitive dynamics, and the pace of adoption of AI across industries. Despite near-term uncertainties, we maintain conviction in NVIDIA’s leadership in accelerated computing, driven by its ability to innovate and adapt to market shifts. With robust margins, a dominant data center presence, and a growing ecosystem across hardware and software, we believe NVIDIA is well positioned to capitalize on the structural growth in AI and high-performance computing.”
Overall, NVDA ranks 1st on our list of best upside stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the growth potential of NVDA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
