NVIDIA Is America’s Most Successful Company of 2016

By Trey Thoelcke Updated Jan 12, 4:22PM EST · Published Dec 28, 7:35AM EST

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NVIDIA Is America’s Most Successful Company of 2016 — © Thinkstock

Each year, share prices fluctuate considerably, and personal fortunes are made and lost in the stock market. This year was no exception. While companies such as Silicon Valley’s NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) were a boon for shareholders, with its share price growing by more than 230%, other companies, like drugmaker Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP), lost much of their value on Wall Street.

No matter the underlying causes, the fluctuation of a given company’s stock price is indicative of investor confidence. 24/7 Wall St. recently reviewed the year-to-date share price changes for each company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to determine the most and least successful stocks in 2016, and the aforementioned NVIDIA topped the list as the most successful. Our review at the time read as follows:

1. NVIDIA
> YTD stock price change: 201.1%
> Latest FY revenue: $5.01 billion
> Forecast FY revenue: $7.90 billion
> Sector: Technology

Semiconductor company NVIDIA has been the best performing S&P 500 stock this year, as the chipmaker’s stock price has more than tripled since January. NVIDIA manufactures chips for the gaming, professional visualization, data, mobile and automotive markets. With improving graphics capabilities, the shift to cloud computing, and ongoing developments in the auto industry from the likes of Google and Tesla, analysts largely agree that these industries will continue to grow as will their demand for chips. The U.S. gaming industry, for example, is projected to grow approximately 5% each year through 2020, according to consulting giant PwC. NVIDIA’s data center business is also performing very well, with its second quarter 2016 revenue more than double the segment’s second quarter 2015 revenue.

The stock was also one of RBC’s top tech stock picks for 2017, though it is also one of the most shorted Nasdaq stocks. NVIDIA shares have risen another 10% or so in the past week and hit a new 52-week high of $117.36 on Tuesday. The 52-week low was down at $24.75 and seen last February.

Be sure to check out the full list of America’s most and least successful companies in 2016.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.