Nvidia's board looked at its cash pile and decided the best place to put a chunk of it was back into its own stock. On Friday, the chipmaker announced an additional $150 billion share repurchase authorization, and investors responded by sending shares to a fresh all-time high.
The new program lifts Nvidia's (NVDA) remaining buyback capacity to about $235 billion through fiscal 2028. That's a lot of firepower, even for a company that has spent the past couple of years printing money.
Analysts estimate the buyback could shrink the share count by about 4.2% and add roughly 1.6% to earnings per share by 2028. In plain English: fewer shares outstanding means each remaining share gets a bigger slice of the profit pie.
The market liked what it heard. Nvidia stock rose about 2% to $235.5 at midday, after touching a record intraday high of $237.55. That pushed its market value to roughly $5.7 trillion. Since the start of the year, the stock has rallied 25%.
For a company already valued in the trillions, the buyback is less about rescuing a beaten-down share price and more about signaling confidence. When a board authorizes this kind of money, it's effectively saying it doesn't see a better use for the cash right now, and it's happy to shrink the float while the business keeps growing.
