GOOGL Dethrones NVDA As Most Valuable Company — But Which Stock Is The Better Bet Right Now?

• Alphabet surpassed Nvidia’s market cap twice in 2024.
• NVDA has a lower price-to-earnings ratio and lower RSI readings than GOOGL.
• Stocktwits sentiment was ‘extremely bullish’ for both GOOGL and NVD.

Alphabet briefly surpassed Nvidia as the world's most valuable company on Tuesday as the GOOGL stock jumped to a fresh high of $399.01 in extended trading before settling lower, but Nvidia still managed to hold on to the lead.

At peak prices in the after-hours session, Alphabet’s market capitalization edged ahead at $4.83 trillion, narrowly topping Nvidia’s $4.80 trillion. By the close, however, Nvidia had reclaimed the lead, ending at $4.79 trillion compared to Alphabet’s $4.78 trillion.

In recent years, Alphabet has surpassed Nvidia on two occasions, as the chart below shows.
 

GOOGL stock gained 1.6% in Tuesday’s extended session, while NVDA shares rose 0.5%. 

The milestone underscores the divergent views between the two companies. Alphabet is gaining fresh momentum following its earnings, with the stock up 11% since the April 29 report, which highlighted blowout growth in its cloud unit and solid traction in its core search business. Up 24% year to date, GOOGL stock is currently at an all-time high.

On the other hand, NVDA stock has cooled off lately and is down 10% from its April 27 peak. Curiously, the broader semiconductor ETF, SOXX, has continued to soar – on the back of strong results and gains in Intel, Texas Instruments, and Marvell Technology. Advanced Micro Devices, too, posted a blowout report on Tuesday.

How Retail Traders Feel About GOOGL, NVDA

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was ‘extremely bullish’ for both GOOGL and NVDA stocks as of late Tuesday. However, a few other metrics showed NVDA was approaching a more favorable zone for investors.

Alphabet's next 12-month price-to-earnings ratio is 30.8, while the metric for NVDA was 23.6. The relative strength index (RSI) reading was 81.30 for GOOGL and 50.82 for NVDA.

RSI above 70 indicates overbought conditions, below 30 signaling oversold levels, and values between 30 and 70 suggesting a neutral range.

About 95% of the analysts covering NVDA had a ‘Buy’ or higher rating for NVDA stock, with an average price target of $269.17, implying a 38% upside from the stock’s last close, per Koyfin data. In comparison, about 90% of the analysts had a ‘Buy’ or higher rating on GOOGL, with a price target of $421. That is just 8% higher than the stock’s last close.

Traders expressed frustration about the dull move in Nvidia shares. 

“$NVDA I would love to hear anyone's rational explanation on how this stock can be down 8% over the last five days with tech rallying? This company has nothing but break record after record for growth and earnings, and this is pure b*******,” remarked a trader on Stocktwits.

To be sure, both NVDA and GOOGL streams showed traders advising traders to load up on shares. 

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