NEW YORK, February 19, 2026, 4:47 PM EST — Activity picks up after the bell
- NVIDIA Corporation ended Thursday’s session down 0.04% at $187.90, with the stock barely moving in after-hours trading.
- With Nvidia’s quarterly report set for Feb. 25, investors are making their moves now.
- Traders are caught between concerns over lofty valuations and fresh competition in “inference,” even as they parse signals on AI-chip demand.
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) finished Thursday at $187.90, slipping 0.04% before holding steady in after-hours action as chip names lost some steam with the rest of the market. Broadcom ticked up, while Intel dropped.
Traders aren’t showing their hand—positions remain slim as Nvidia’s earnings approach, a period that often steers the direction of the AI chip trade. That near-flat close? It doesn’t tell the whole story.
It comes down to timing. Nvidia’s earnings are set for next week, right as investors are on edge about whether AI’s rapid spending surge will actually show up in profits—and whether current valuations are justified.
Nvidia climbed 1.6% Wednesday after announcing a multi-year agreement to supply Meta Platforms with millions of its AI chips—both existing and in the pipeline. “At a certain point, weakness in tech was bound to bring in the marginal buyer,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. Reuters
Stocks reversed course Thursday. The S&P 500 dropped 0.28%, while the Nasdaq lost 0.31%. Traders eyed the upcoming Personal Consumption Expenditures report due Friday—the Fed’s go-to inflation measure. “The market is trying to grapple with what business lines are under threat in a material way from AI,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments. Reuters
Talk of competition surfaced as well. Toronto startup Taalas announced a $169 million funding round and claimed its new chip beats traditional options on both speed and cost for AI workloads. “This hardwiring is partly what gives us the speed,” CEO Ljubisa Bajic told Reuters. Reuters
Taalas is carving out space in “inference,” the phase where an AI model actually spits out answers to user questions. Here, cost and power usage often outweigh the need for sheer training horsepower. Nvidia still rules the training chip sector, but investors are watching closely for any signs of weakness, as clients hunt for more affordable options to scale up AI operations.
The direct effect on markets isn’t easy to pin down. Startups often hit snags scaling up production, while Nvidia keeps its edge through its software ecosystem—plus, customers tend to pick up entire systems rather than just the chips.
Nvidia’s real challenge isn’t a single competitor—it’s managing sky-high expectations. With shares priced for perfection, even a whiff of softer demand or shrinking margins can knock the stock down fast.
Friday brings the inflation print, followed by Nvidia’s earnings after the bell on Feb. 25. Investors are bracing for what management says on supply and customer demand—those details have a track record of swinging the stock more than the topline figures.
