If You'd Invested $10,000 in Nvidia 5 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today

Key Points

• Nvidia's incredible growth is largely the result of robust demand for its data center GPUs.

• The business has been the best way for investors to gain exposure to the growing interest in all things AI-related.

• A valid argument can be made that the stock still presents a good buying opportunity.

• 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has quickly ascended up the ranks to become the world's most valuable enterprise today. It sports a monster market cap of more than $4.32 trillion (as of Sept. 11). The company is valued at $600 billion more than second-place Microsoft.

Long-time Nvidia shareholders feel like they've hit the jackpot. If you'd invested $10,000 in this top artificial intelligence (AI) stock five years ago, here's how much you'd have 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.

Demand is through the roof

This is one of the best-performing stocks on the planet. In the past five years, shares have catapulted 1,340% higher. Had you been smart enough to invest $10,000 in Nvidia in September 2020, you'd have a jaw-dropping $144,080 today. That's an incredible gain in a relatively short time.

The company has been thriving as its customers build out the technical infrastructure needed to develop AI models. Demand for Nvidia's data center graphics processing units is insatiable. Revenue increased 12-fold between the second quarter of fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2026's Q2 (which ended July 27). Consensus analyst estimates forecast a 35% compound annual growth rate between fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2028.

Is Nvidia a smart buy now?

After such an impressive gain in recent years, it might be crazy to think that Nvidia still presents investors with a smart buying opportunity. However, that just might be the case today, even though the stock is just 3% below its record high.

Shares trade at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 39.6. This looks totally reasonable when you consider the fact that Nvidia's net income increased at an annualized pace of 112% in the past five years. By being the dominant pick-and-shovel provider during the AI revolution, Nvidia is experiencing unbelievable success.

Should you invest $1,000 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 $672,879!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,086,947!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,066% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 186% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of September 8, 2025

Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.