Turning $10,000 into $1 million is every investor’s dream. That’s a 100-times return on your investment, and it could be the very thing investors need to meet all their retirement goals. However, this kind of return in that timeframe is extremely rare. Only a handful of stocks have ever accomplished this feat.
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been a strong stock to own over the past few years, but there’s still a ton of growth left in the AI market. Is there enough for a $10,000 investment to turn into $1 million a decade? Let’s find out.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
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Nvidia has already posted jaw-dropping returns
Nvidia is actually one of those stocks that turned $10,000 into $1 million in a decade. Even with the stock well off its all-time highs, if you invested $10,000 in Nvidia a decade ago, it would be worth around $2 million today. Unfortunately, investors don’t have a time machine to go back and invest in Nvidia, so all that’s left is looking forward.
So, could Nvidia turn $10,000 into $1 million again? Likely not.
For that to happen, Nvidia’s value would need to rise 100 times, turning Nvidia from a $2.66 trillion company to a $266 trillion company. For reference, the entire U.S. stock market cap was around $62 trillion at the end of 2024. It’s expected to reach around $128 trillion worldwide by the end of 2025. So, it’s pretty evident that a $266 trillion company isn’t going to appear a decade from now.
But is a $10,000 investment in Nvidia still a smart one? I think so.
You don’t have to look for moonshot returns to be a successful investor; you just need to beat the market by a few percentage points each year. I think Nvidia can accomplish that, as there is still a ton of AI growth left.
Nvidia’s growth is still expected to be strong moving forward
Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs) are best in class and have a greater than 90% market share in data centers. Few companies reach that level of dominance, but this just speaks to how successful a company Nvidia has been.
While data center buildouts have been massive over the past few years, they’re nothing compared to where Nvidia thinks they’re headed. In 2024, they estimated that data center capital expenditures were around $400 billion. However, Nvidia expects that number to rise to $1 trillion by 2028. That’s monster growth in a four-year timeframe, and if Nvidia maintains its market share, it could see similar growth in its already impressive financials.
However, the market is worried that this data center spending could come under pressure if a trade war ramps up. This notion has been disproven, at least in the short term. Nvidia’s biggest clients are AI hyperscalers like Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). Both of these companies affirmed commitments to massive capital expenditures over the next year, mostly focusing on data centers to power AI.
This means that Nvidia’s growth is full steam ahead, but the market values the stock as if that’s not the case.
NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.
At 25 times forward earnings and 37 times trailing earnings, Nvidia is now valued at similar levels to its tech peers, such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which trades at 34 times trailing earnings and 29 times forward earnings, despite not having nearly the same growth potential as Nvidia. Furthermore, Nvidia isn’t that much more expensive than the broader market, as measured by the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), which trades at 20.5 times forward earnings.
Nvidia still has a ton of growth left in the tank, even if the market isn’t valuing it that way. While it won’t turn $10,000 into $1 million, market-beating returns aren’t out of the question, which makes Nvidia a great stock to scoop up today.
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*Stock Advisor returns as of April 28, 2025
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
