Nvidia shares will thrive this year as the chipmaker should generate earnings per share above expectations, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The firm reiterated its buy and ‘top sector pick’ ratings for Nvidia, citing the company’s product leadership in several large growth categories.

“Expect beat/raise … We remain positive on NVDA ahead of Q1 results,” analyst Vivek Arya wrote in a note to clients Monday. “In our view, FQ2 sales outlook can be at-least inline or better than consensus from continued data center strength, start of Nintendo Switch sales, workstation demand, and shift of GPU sales to gamers from miners.”

The company’s stock rose 4.2 percent Monday after the report.

Arya reiterated his $300 price target for Nvidia shares, representing 25.5 percent upside to Friday’s close.

The analyst said Nvidia’s data center business is nearly 20 percent of its sales and is growing at roughly 133 percent year over year. He predicted strong results in this segment due to increasing capital expenditures from cloud computing providers.

Nvidia is slated to report its financial results on Thurs. May 10.

Source: Tech CNBC
Bank of America says buy Nvidia because of leadership in gaming business