The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past year or so has made Nvidia (NVDA -0.24%) a rock star among the Wall Street set. However, after gaining 224% over the past year (as of this writing), the stock has hit a wall, leading some investors to believe the best gains are already in the rearview mirror.

But at least one Wall Street analyst believes there's still plenty of upside ahead.

Profiting from the AI boom

Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya reaffirmed his price target of $1,100 while maintaining a buy rating on the stock. That represents potential gains for investors of 26% compared to Wednesday's closing price. The analyst addressed Nvidia's sell-off, calling it a "refreshing pause," noting it's the ninth decline of 10% or more since late 2022.

The analyst goes further, saying Nvidia's fundamentals are solid, and these periods of consolidation "tend to set the stock up for strong moves later." He reiterated his opinion that Nvidia is a "top pick."

The wall of worry

If they're looking, Nvidia investors can find plenty to worry about. There's the specter of growing competition, inflation, and historically high interest rates. These concerns, taken together, may be leading some fair-weather investors to take profits ahead of Nvidia's next earnings report -- but that could be a costly mistake.

I would suggest investors focus on what we do know. It's still early days in the evolution of AI, and adoption is proceeding at an accelerated rate. Until someone builds a better mousetrap, Nvidia is still the industry leader, and its graphics processing units (GPUs) are the gold standard for machine learning -- an established branch of AI -- with 95% of the market. It's also the GPU leader in data center operations, with a dominant 95% share of that market.

After three successive quarters of triple-digit, record-setting growth, Nvidia is forecasting another. The stock is trading for 36 times forward earnings. While that's a slight premium compared to the price-to-earnings ratio of 28 for the S&P 500, it's an attractive price in light of Nvidia's opportunity.