If You'd Invested $1,000 in Nvidia 5 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been the hottest stock on Wall Street in recent memory. Over the past five years, the company has delivered incredible returns. But how incredible, exactly? Read on to find out how much a $1,000 investment in Nvidia would be worth today.

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The party may not be over

Nvidia has posted a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59.49% since 2021, as of this writing. That means if you had started with $1,000 five years ago, you'd now have $10,319.71. For comparison, the S&P 500's CAGR over the same period was 13.06%, so it would have turned an initial $1,000 investment into $1,847.33.

NVDA Total Return Level data by YCharts

That's a massive difference. Of course, investors are more interested in what will happen next than in what has happened in the past. Can Nvidia still deliver above-average returns? Several data points suggest so, despite the stock declining in recent weeks. Here's one thing to consider: Nvidia remains the undisputed leader in the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) market as hyperscalers spend massive sums on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, and they may continue doing so for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, Nvidia's shares are surprisingly cheap relative to the company's growth potential, perhaps because some investors think the AI tailwind will fade pretty soon. The tech leader is trading at 22.2x forward earnings, compared with an average of 22.4x for information technology stocks. A company of Nvidia's stature, which leads its industry, boasts a wide moat due to switching costs and is still tapping into a fast-growing market, in my view, deserves a healthy premium. Anything less suggests the stock is trading at a steep discount. That's why investors should rush to buy Nvidia's shares. It may not perform as well through 2031 as it has over the past five years, but it could still deliver solid returns.

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.