Chips edge higher as Nvidia's strong Q4, guidance buoys sentiment
PonyWang

Semiconductor stocks largely rose on Thursday, buoyed in part by Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), which soared after Wall Street praised the company's fourth-quarter results and guidance.
Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari upgraded Nvidia (NVDA) to buy after the results, citing the fact the Jensen Huang-led company is taking wallet share in the data center and gaming has normalized.
"Looking ahead, ... we believe the combination of positive estimate revisions and a potential expansion in the stockâs multiple - consistent with historical recovery phases - will drive continued outperformance in the stock," Hari wrote in a research note.
During the fourth-quarter, Nvidia (NVDA) said it earned an adjusted 88 cents per share as revenue fell 21% year-over-year to $6.05B, including $1.83B gaming-related revenue and $3.62B from data center sales. 
Analysts were expecting the chip maker to report earnings 80 cents per share and $6.02B in revenue.
Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland, who has a positive rating and per-share price target of $265 on Nvidia (NVDA), noted that the results from gaming more than offset any concerns about data center, while adding that all four segments - gaming, professional visualization, automotive and embedded and data center - should see future growth.
Rolland also noted the company's gross margins were intact and operating expenses were guided to be around flat over the next few quarters.
"In short, this update was better than feared, perhaps indicating the worst for NVIDIAâs business is past," Rolland penned.
Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore is a tad more cautious on Nvidia (NVDA), but added that it does not seem like a pullback in the stock is coming.
"We would maintain a market weight position in the stock and will continue to look for opportunity," Moore wrote of the results.
A number of other Wall Street firms raised their price targets on Nvidia (NVDA) following the results.
Nvidia (NVDA) shares soared 13% in mid-day trading, while competitors AMD (AMD) and Marvell (MRVL) gained 2.4% and 3.4%, respectively. 
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) saw fractional losses, giving up earlier gains, even as Morgan Stanley's Moore upgraded the stock due to a "balanced" risk-reward following the company's recent dividend cut.
"With this [news] detailing the dividend cut, slight capex cuts, and further opex cuts, we see a management team that is now working to return to a more disciplined approach with regards to capital management and allocation," Moore wrote.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) rose fractionally as the San Diego-based chipmaker announced a deal with Adobe (ADBE) to use its cloud-based marketing software.
Other chip stocks were largely higher on Thursday, including Broadcom (AVGO), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Micron Technology (MU) and Texas Instruments (TXN).
ON Semiconductor (ON) bucked the trend, losing more than 2%.
Speaking on the earnings call, Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said artificial intelligence is at an "inflection point" and is among the biggest opportunities for the company going forward.