Wall Street piles on Nvidia: William Blair and Oppenheimer downgrade, Bernstein, Stifel and Citi slash targets as stock slides toward one-year low (Nov 12)
What happened
On Thursday, Nov. 12, a wave of Wall Street firms moved on Nvidia the morning after the Wall Street Journal reported the board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang. William Blair downgraded Nvidia to Market Perform from Outperform, warning Huang's likely departure and heightened scrutiny are 'a significant overhang' on the shares. Oppenheimer cut its rating to Perform from Outperform and removed its price target altogether. Bernstein downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and halved its target to $200 from $400, citing leadership uncertainty rather than chip demand, and kept its earnings forecasts unchanged. Stifel cut its target to $205 from $315 while keeping a Buy, saying it now considers a leadership transition its base case and valuing the stock at 13 times fiscal 2028 EPS of $15.65, down from a 20-times multiple. Citi cut its target a second time this week, to $225 from $285, while keeping a Buy. Dan Ives estimated Nvidia is worth $225 without Huang versus $300 with him as CEO, and said he expects Huang to be removed. Nvidia shares fell more than 6% in premarket trading, on track for lows last seen in July 2025.
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Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- NVDA — down 6-7%+ in premarket trading Thursday, on track for its lowest level in over a year after losing about 14% since the Nov. 6 close; analysts now treat a Huang departure as the base case and are cutting valuation multiples, not just targets
- Semiconductor sector / SOX — Nvidia is the AI trade's bellwether; Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.75-0.92% and chip peers including Micron and SK Hynix were dragged lower in premarket trading
- AMD and Broadcom (AVGO) — rose about 4% and 2.8% respectively in after-hours trading Wednesday as investors bet customers diversify away from Nvidia
- Mag 7 / Nasdaq 100 — a deeper Nvidia slide raises the risk premium on the whole AI capex complex heading into Nvidia's Nov. 17 earnings