New York, Feb 17, 2026, 10:01 ET — Regular session
Nvidia Corporation slipped 1.3% to $180.46 early Tuesday, with investors showing restraint on the busy AI-chip sector following the holiday. Shares saw a range from $180.29 up to $183.33 in the session.
Nvidia’s retreat is making waves, given its role as the bellwether for AI data center spending and the speed at which those dollars flow to the bottom line. This year, top-tier tech stocks have shed billions in value, with investors pausing to assess whether the huge bets on AI can pay off fast enough to support lofty price tags, Reuters noted Monday.
Nvidia reports next week, and traders are looking for any signals on demand and margins as activity moves from training to inference—meaning, more models are actually running in the real world now. On Monday, Nvidia highlighted new benchmark figures: its Blackwell Ultra systems, the company says, are pushing up to 50 times more throughput per megawatt than the previous Hopper line, and slashing “cost per token,” or the price to process each chunk of AI text. NVIDIA Blog
Citi urged investors on Tuesday to boost their positions, pointing to stronger product momentum and clearer demand trends stretching through 2027. Analyst Atif Malik is looking for $67 billion in revenue for the January quarter—above the Street’s $65.6 billion consensus—and guided April-quarter sales at $73 billion, also ahead of the consensus $71.6 billion. The firm kept its Buy rating and $270 price target, calling the stock “looks attractive” for the back half of the year. Investing
Jitters around the macro picture aren’t easing up. Reuters flagged fresh concerns about AI shakeups and the competitive push from China, with Alibaba rolling out its Qwen 3.5 model. “You are seeing a rebalance… it’s natural,” said Stash Graham, CIO at Graham Capital Wealth Management. Investing
Chip stocks stumbled out of the gate: Advanced Micro Devices dropped 3.1%, Broadcom fell 1.7%, while Taiwan Semiconductor’s shares trading in the U.S. lost 1.8%.
Nvidia’s GTC developer conference lands in San Jose from March 16-19, per the company’s website. For investors, the event has turned into a key spot to watch for updates on the company’s product pipeline.
The bar remains high here. A hint of waning orders, or margin pressure as fresh systems launch, might accelerate the selloff—particularly if major cloud buyers continue to push on spending and energy demands.
Nvidia has set Feb. 25 for its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings release, with a conference call scheduled for 2 p.m. PT, according to the company. CFO Colette Kress will provide written commentary soon after the numbers drop.
