Nvidia’s Q3 Rally Outpaces S&P 500 as Buyback Expands

Nvidia shares were on track to gain 17% in the third quarter as it ended Wednesday, compared with a 4.3% rise for the S&P 500. The stock was up 23% year to date. As of 15:51 UTC on Sept. 30, shares traded at $231.19, up 1.75% since the previous close.

CEO Jensen Huang drew attention through earnings calls, media interviews, tech conferences and meals with President Trump. Nvidia also spent $12.9 billion to buy Hugging Face.

The quarter’s rally came as Nvidia announced a $150 billion increase to its stock buyback authorization on Monday. The increase was the largest in history, bringing the company’s total authorization to $235 billion.

At a Goldman Sachs conference this month, Huang reiterated his forecast that the AI market would reach $3 trillion to $4 trillion by 2030. On Nvidia’s August earnings call, he forecast 70% revenue growth for fiscal 2028, above analyst forecasts of 45%. Huang said growth would exceed 100% without memory chip shortages.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called Nvidia the AI chip player to beat, saying the company had a product suited to the moment. Huang joined Benioff for a keynote at Salesforce’s Dreamforce event.