After struggling over the past week, large artificial intelligence stocks are in the green today, ahead of Nvidia's earnings report, which is due out after the market closes. Given the importance of Nvidia to the entire AI trade, the company's earnings results, guidance, and comments on broader AI trends have the potential to influence the entire sector and perhaps the broader market as well.
Shares of Meta Platforms (META +2.48%) traded 3.5% higher as of 12:52 p.m. ET today. Shares of CrowdStrike (CRWD +0.68%) and Broadcom (AVGO +0.67%) both traded 5% higher at that time.
All eyes on Nvidia
Without question, investors are turning their attention to AI chip king Nvidia and the company's release of its fiscal year fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results after the market closes. Wall Street analysts on average project earnings per share of $0.85 and quarterly revenue to have grown 72% year over year to $38.1 billion.
However, the market will also be paying close attention to CEO Jensen Huang's comments on a variety of topics critical to the broader AI ecosystem, including the emergence of DeepSeek and its broader implications on AI capital spending and how easy and inexpensive it eventually could be to replicate large language models. Furthermore, analysts will also likely question management about the Trump administration's potential policies regarding export controls on chips and how they may impact the company if they go into effect.
In company-specific news, Meta might be in talks to build a new data center campus to house its artificial intelligence projects. The cost of the campus could surpass $200 billion, according to The Information, which first reported the news, citing anonymous sources. It seems that almost every other day, Meta is discussing some new massive AI infrastructure project, although a spokesperson from the company reportedly denied these rumors, calling them "pure speculation."
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
Bank of America analyst Tal Liani reiterated his buy rating on CrowdStrike today and increased his price target to $420. Liani wrote that he expects the company to meet or beat consensus estimates when CrowdStrike reports its earnings on March 4. Liani believes the company's core business will continue to show growth, while there could be increased revenue from cross-selling and up-selling.
NASDAQ: CRWD
Key Data Points
While there wasn't a ton of news about Broadcom today, the company did announce yesterday the release of new technology that enables further interoperability between AI data centers.
A potential inflection point, although risks remain
Nvidia's latest results clearly could be an inflection point for the AI sector. After dealing with some adversity in 2025, good results and guidance from Nvidia and positive comments from Huang could get AI stocks back on track. Meanwhile, bad results and comments that concern investors could mean further declines ahead.
That said, these are short-term concerns. Longer term, AI stocks are still vulnerable to the higher-for-longer rate environment and potentially concerns over a weakening consumer and potential recession, although a recession could also bring further rate cuts.
Trading at 90 times forward earnings, I don't see any need for investors to jump into CrowdStrike, despite the company running a solid business. Broadcom and Meta look a little more appealing these days, trading at nearly 34 and 27 times forward earnings estimates, respectively. Broadcom's custom chip business and Meta's ability to monetize AI have been highlighted by many analysts. I don't own any of these large AI stocks right now, but I think these are solid and more affordable options over peers.
