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Tesla Partner Nvidia Speeds To Record High On ‘Superhuman’ AI

Nvidia ‘s ( NVDA ) AI technology with Facebook ( FB ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) is powering “superhuman” levels of inference, or artificial intelligence, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said Thursday, after the Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) partner blasted Q1 views on record deep-learning sales. “The truth is that nobody really knows how big this deep-learning market is going to be,” Huang said on the company’s earnings conference call. He referred specifically to gains that customer Microsoft was making with AI and deep learning. “The work that recently was done at Microsoft Research, they’ve achieved superhuman levels of inferencing … of image recognition and voice recognition that’s really kind of hard to imagine,” he said, “and these networks are now huge.” In midday trading on the stock market today , Nvidia stock was up more than 14% and hit an all-time high at 40.30. Main graphics chip rival Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) was up nearly 3% midday Friday. IBD’s 41-company Electronic Semiconductor-Fabless industry group was up 1.5%. Nvidia late Thursday said its Q1 data center sales, which includes AI, soared 63% year over year to a record $143 million. Nvidia’s chips power IBM ( IBM ) Watson and Facebook’s Big Sur server, Huang said. Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Alibaba ( BABA ), Baidu ( BIDU ) and Twitter ( TWTR ) also use its AI technology. “Twitter has recently said they use Nvidia GPUs (graphics processing units) to help users discover the right content among the millions of images and videos shared every day,” Huang said, adding he can’t imagine a future Internet without deep learning. For Q1, Nvidia reported $1.3 billion in sales and 33 cents earnings per share, up 13% and 38% year over year, respectively. Both metrics topped Wall Street views for $1.26 billion and 32 cents. Nvidia Gaming Gains Seen Ahead Automotive sales grew 43% to $113 million, offsetting weaker growth in Nvidia’s core gaming and professional gaming segments — up a respective 17% to $687 million, and 4% to $189 million. But MKM analyst Ian Ing sees Nvidia’s gaming unit getting a robust refresh in the second-half of the year when it releases its new Pascal GPU, replacing the outmoded Maxwell units. The GPUs will be sold for $699 vs. the Maxwell 980 Ti at $682. “Nvidia continues to be our top pick, given the imminent Pascal gaming refresh and GPUs having unique exposure to a long list of promising applications that are outperforming PCs and smartphone opportunities,” he wrote in a research report. Despite continued headwinds in the PC and smartphone markets, “gaming continues to appear to have macro immunity,” he wrote. Ing reiterated his buy rating on Nvidia stock and boosted his price target to 43 from 39. For the current quarter, Nvidia expects $1.35 billion in sales, plus or minus 2%, up 17% at the midpoint vs. the year-earlier quarter. Rosenblatt analyst Kinngai Chan called the guidance “conservative” despite likely seasonal headwinds and a maturing product line. “We did not see any meaningful market share shifts and continue to see a benign pricing environment,” he wrote in a report.

Apple Invests $1 Billion In Uber’s China Rival Didi Chuxing

Apple ( AAPL ) will invest $1 billion in Uber’s China ride-hailing rival Didi Chuxing, backed by Chinese Internet giants Alibaba ( BABA ) and Tencent ( TCEHY ). Apple CEO Tim Cook told Reuters the move will help it better understand the Chinese market. “We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market,” he said. Didi Chuxing, formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, is the dominant ride-hailing service in China, operating in more than 400 cities. Didi Chuxing said Apple’s $1 billion stake is its largest investment ever. Uber also is expanding heavily in China, teaming up with Baidu ( BIDU ), the third member of the Baidu-Alibaba-Tencent trio of Chinese Internet giants. Didi also has alliances with U.S.-based Lyft, India’s Ola and SE Asia’s Grab. The effort also could help develop an Apple Car. Apple has never confirmed plans to build an electric vehicle with some autonomous elements, but has hired dozens of automotive engineers for “Project Titan.” Currently, Apple’s public auto efforts are focused on CarPlay, an infotainment service linked to the iPhone. Cook said: “That is what we do today in the car business, so we will have to see what the future holds,” he said. Apple shares closed 2.35% to 90.34 on the stock market today, hitting its lowest levels since June 2014. Apple also lost its crown as the most valuable company to Google parent Alphabet ( GOOGL ).

Apple Is No Longer The Biggest Stock: Why You Should Worry This Time

Loading the player… Apple ( AAPL ) has again lost its crown as the most valuable company, as it plunges to its lowest level in nearly two years. Google owner Alphabet ( GOOGL ) is dropping in the stock market today as well, but it is now the biggest company. The switch comes shortly after Apple posted its first-ever decline in iPhone sales, and as analysts continued to voice concerns over a longer upgrade cycle. The last time Alphabet was able to overtake Apple was a little over two months ago, though it only lasted a few days. But as Apple’s stock becomes more and more technically damaged, it’ll be interesting to see if it can last this time. Apple shares are crumbling 2.6% in huge volume, dropping below the 90 price level intraday to a fresh 23-month low. The stock is now 32% below its all-time high, reached in April 2015. IBD’s Take: How healthy is Apple’s stock and how does it stand up vs. rivals? Find out at IBD Stock Checkup Alphabet is sliding 0.4% in slightly above-average volume. Shares were able to retake the 200-day line last week and are now looking for support near that level. The stock is 10% below its early-February high and 7% below a cup-with-handle buy point of 777.41 that it failed to break out of after issuing disappointing earnings results. Amazon Worth $3 Trillion? And don’t forget to keep an eye on the other big “A” tech stock: Amazon ( AMZN ). The e-commerce giant has a market cap of about $338 billion, compared with Apple’s $493 billion valuation and Alphabet’s nearly $500 billion market cap, but its stock is performing very well. Amazon hit another new all-time high in intraday trade Thursday, with the stock up fractionally at midday. Amazon is extended about 18% past a cup-with-handle buy point it initially cleared shortly before the company’s latest quarterly report. Venture capital firm Social Capital recently gave Amazon a $3 trillion, 10-year valuation. Analysts say Amazon is set to overtake Macy’s ( M ) as the No. 1 U.S. apparel retailer next year. It may also be poised to grab bigger positions in the consumables and food and beverage markets in the next few years. Meanwhile, Facebook ( FB ) has a $342 billion market cap. The social networking giant is very near its recent all-time high as it continues to trade within buy range from a cup-with-handle base that it broke out of on its earnings results. Facebook shares were essentially flat in early afternoon trade.