After a volatile day of trading, Nvidia (NVDA -3.00%) stock ended Thursday's trading in the red. The company's share price fell 1.7% in the session, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Nvidia stock opened the day's trading down as much as 7%, but it was able to climb to a gain of 2.1% on better-than-expected economic data before retreating to bearish territory after some analysts suggested big-tech earnings could continue to underwhelm. Investors have been pivoting away from the artificial intelligence (AI) leader and other megacap tech stocks amid geopolitical risks and valuation concerns, and recent earnings reports from Alphabet and Tesla have added to selling pressures.
Nvidia stock has now fallen in four out of five of its last daily trading sessions. The company's stock is now down roughly 17% from the peak that it reached on June 18. Is it time to buy the high-profile AI stock?
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Investors can still win with Nvidia stock
Nvidia has become a battleground stock -- and arguably the single-most influential company when it comes to shaping performance for the stock market at large. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) and other accelerated computing technologies are the go-to platform for powering advanced AI applications.
The company's existing strengths in data center computing technologies have been magnified by surging demand for AI services, and the business has seen stellar sales and earnings growth in tandem with the trend. On the other hand, the incredible rise of artificial intelligence technologies is a relatively recent phenomenon -- and that makes it difficult to chart future performance and forecast valuations.
Valuations for AI stocks will likely see significant levels of volatility over the next few years as investors try to assess economic opportunities created by the progression of the tech. But Nvidia has strong competitive advantages thanks to its category-leading GPUs and related software platform, and there's a good chance that the company will retain a dominant position in the most important category of artificial intelligence hardware.
For long-term investors looking to build exposure to hardware technologies powering key AI trends, taking a dollar-cost-averaging approach to Nvidia stock looks like a smart move right now.
