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

Source The Motley Fool

Key Points

  • Nvidia's recent run has been amazing.

  • There is more where that came from.

  • 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

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.

Nvidia logo.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

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 Chart

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.

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 $397,890!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,196,664!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 902% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 207% 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 July 1, 2026.

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

Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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