Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) doesn't need to keep growing at a blistering pace to make shareholders richer, according to one investment chief who thinks the market may be underestimating just how big the chipmaker can become. Her argument pushes back on a common investor reflex: treating decelerating growth as a red flag, even when a company is still expanding earnings at a healthy clip.

Nancy Tengler, CEO and chief investment officer of Laffer Tengler Investments, believes Nvidia could double over the next five to 10 years even if its earnings growth eventually cools to 20% or 30%. "If it decelerates to 20% or 30% you are still growing," she said in emailed comments, making the case that slower growth doesn't automatically mean the stock has run out of upside.

Slower Growth Isn't Stalled Growth

Tengler cited Nvidia's earnings growth of 96%, which she expects to decelerate to 70% the following year, before potentially settling at 20% to 30%. Those figures reflect her stated outlook and should not be confused with company guidance.

Her broader point is simple math: percentage growth naturally becomes harder to sustain as a business gets larger. Even at a slower rate, a company with a substantial earnings base can keep adding significant profits.

Tengler pointed to Microsoft Corp's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Azure cloud business as an example of how deceleration need not derail a stock. "We went through that with Azure, and the stock was still able to perform," she said.

The comparison offers a useful lens for Nvidia investors. The question isn't simply whether growth slows, but whether demand for its chips and related computing infrastructure remains strong enough to support earnings expansion as the business scales.

A Value Case for Nvidia?

Tengler also challenged the assumption that a large technology company can't qualify as a value investment. She said Nvidia was trading at a 13.5 earnings multiple when her firm added it to its value portfolio earlier in the summer. That is her historical valuation reference, not a current multiple.

"We put it in our value portfolio," Tengler said of Nvidia. She added that the firm had recently done the same with Meta and had invested in Alphabet two years earlier.

Her reasoning rests on the potential for these companies to keep growing despite their size. "These are really big companies but they can double in size," she said. "There's nothing that says they can't."

That remains a thesis, not a guarantee. Nvidia could face slower AI infrastructure spending, stronger competition or weaker returns on customers' AI investments. Any of those developments could pressure earnings expectations and the valuation investors are willing to pay.

What Investors Should Watch

The central question is whether Nvidia can sustain meaningful earnings growth as its business matures. Investors should watch data-center demand, customer spending and profitability for evidence that expansion remains durable.

Tengler's case is that Nvidia need not repeat its extraordinary growth rates to reward shareholders. But the stock's long-term upside still depends on earnings delivering, rather than investors simply believing that it will.