Needham, DA Davidson Lower Nvidia Stock (NVDA) Price Targets but Stay Bullish Despite CEO Transition Concerns

Nvidia (NVDA) stock continued to decline on Friday amid investor concerns about the leadership transition after Jensen Huang stepped down as the semiconductor company's CEO. Huang admitted that he had an affair with a woman who U.S. intelligence officials allege is a Chinese spy. Nvidia named CFO Colette Kress as the interim CEO. Several analysts downgraded NVDA stock, considering the ongoing turmoil. Meanwhile, Needham analyst Quinn Bolton lowered his price target to $200 from $300 but retained a Buy rating.

DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria also cut his price target to $200 from $300 while reaffirming a Buy rating. Both analysts expressed concerns about the near-term impact of leadership uncertainty.

These price cuts come ahead of Nvidia's Q3 FY27 earnings on November 17.

Needham Weighs In on NVDA Stock

Bolton believes Jensen's departure is "clearly a near-term overhang" on NVDA stock. The 5-star analyst expects management to issue a conservative outlook due to near-term uncertainty around the CEO transition. Accordingly, Bolton reduced his price target to reflect near-term multiple compression.

That said, Bolton remains bullish on Nvidia, as he believes that Jensen left the company with a solid foundation and a strong product roadmap. Furthermore, the analyst noted that the AI infrastructure spending outlook remains strong, and he does not expect the CEO transition to affect customers' purchases of Nvidia's products.

Here's Why DA Davidson Remains Bullish on Nvidia

With Huang's exit, Luria expects a "challenging transition" for the company over the next few months. The 4-star analyst believes Huang's exit will change Nvidia in the same way Steve Jobs' departure impacted Apple (AAPL), though unlike the iPhone maker, this is an unplanned transition for the chip company. While Luria expects Nvidia to maintain its product dominance, he thinks that it is unlikely to shape the AI ecosystem the way Huang did over the past 10-plus years.

Nonetheless, Luria believes that interim CEO Colette Kress is capable of moving the company forward. The analyst warned that disruptions to the company's Asia business from increased scrutiny will be the main risk for the company, with volumes from this region expected to shift to other markets and weigh on next year's numbers.

"We expect NVIDIA to continue to capture a significant proportion of the AI profit pool over the next few years, more than justifying its current share price," said Luria.

Is NVDA Stock a Buy, Hold, or Sell?

Currently, Wall Street has a Moderate Buy consensus rating on Nvidia stock based on 27 Buys and 11 Holds. The average NVDA stock price target of $247.58 indicates 52% upside potential.