Nvidia (NVDA 1.86%) is still the cream of the crop of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. It continues to post nearly unbelievable results, yet lately the market has been unwilling to show it the love that it's showing to some of its competitors. I think that makes Nvidia a perfect AI stock to invest in right now, as it's actually being underhyped compared to its performance -- particularly in light of the results it delivered Wednesday.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Nvidia blew expectations out of the water
For Nvidia, Q1 was just another quarter of outperforming expectations. Management had told investors to expect $78 billion in revenue, plus or minus 2%. Instead, its top line grew 85% year over year to $81.6 billion, easily outperforming that guidance. Yet the stock dipped. As of late Friday, it was down more than 4% for the week. The most remarkable thing about its growth rate is that it's accelerating. Look at what Nvidia's growth curve looked like prior to Q1's results, and it becomes obvious that the company is only getting stronger.
NVDA Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts.
It's a bit mind-bending to think that Nvidia, the largest company in the world, is nearly doubling its revenue year over year and that its growth rate is re-accelerating. When a company is growing this fast, I also like to look at the quarter-over-quarter growth to determine if this growth rate represents long-term or short-term strength. In Q1, Nvidia's revenue rose 20% quarter over quarter. When other tech giants like Microsoft, Apple, or Alphabet grow at a 20% year-over-year rate, we celebrate and talk about how strong a quarter they had. Nvidia is achieving that growth in a fourth of the time.
These results show that the AI build-out is still picking up steam, and Nvidia is the premier company to invest in to take advantage of it.
Despite its more rapid growth, Nvidia trades at a similar level to the other tech megacaps mentioned above.
NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.
In my view, this shows that Nvidia is far undervalued compared to the other three. As a result of the market's current disrespect, I think Nvidia is a solid buy here. It won't surprise me if the market soon starts to wake up to how impressive Nvidia's results were and sends its shares higher. If it can continue posting results like this, it is easily one of the best buys in the entire market.
