If You'd Invested $100 in Nvidia 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today
Key Points
Nvidia’s incredible fundamentals, reflected in its soaring revenues and profits, have benefited its shareholders.
The chipmaker is the largest supplier of AI accelerators for data centers.
- 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has deservedly gotten much attention in recent years thanks to its dominant position in the market for data center graphics processing units (GPUs). The business sells the high-end parallel processing chips that tech companies need to power artificial intelligence (AI) models. It's a legitimate pick-and-shovel investment play.
The stock has been a big winner, and not just since the AI trend took off. If you'd invested $100 in Nvidia 10 years ago and held on through the ups and downs that followed, here's how much your investment would be worth today.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
Image source: Nvidia.
Nvidia shares have gone parabolic
In the past decade, Nvidia shares have produced a monster total return of 22,980% (as of Dec. 19), which would have turned a $100 investment into a holding worth more than $23,000. The company does pay a small dividend, currently just $0.01 per share quarterly, that has had a tiny effect on investor gains.
Nvidia has crushed the S&P 500. The market's large-cap barometer had a 10-year total return of 305% -- not even remotely close to Nvidia's returns.
The chipmaker's shares have been lifted by its robust fundamentals. Revenue and net income skyrocketed by 4,285% and 12,867%, respectively, between its fiscal Q3 2016 and its fiscal Q3 2026 (which ended Oct. 26). Nvidia is now the world's most valuable company, sporting a market cap of $4.4 trillion.
Some investors fear that we're in an AI bubble. Should spending on AI infrastructure slow down, it could have a negative effect on Nvidia's impressive growth trajectory.
Should you buy stock in Nvidia right now?
Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $504,994!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,156,218!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 986% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 196% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of December 26, 2025.
Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Recommended Articles
