Google I/O, Nvidia Earnings Preview: Key Week for Stock Market AI Trade
The AI trade has had a busy month or so.
Magnificent 7 members Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta reported earnings in late April that got a mixed reception. The most AI-focused areas of their businesses mostly beat expectations, but investors remained hung up on capex spending, and whether the payoff is materializing quickly enough.
Leading up to that, semiconductor stocks went on a record 18-day winning streak. A big part of the reason was a recent broadening of the chip trade from GPUs — an area dominated by Nvidia — to CPUs and memory chips.
And just this past week, investor attention shifted to hot inflation, which has been driven by spiking oil prices and the lingering US-Iran conflict. Bond yields spiked globally as traders boosted rate-hike odds. This caused selling in stocks, particularly AI-exposed tech.
Given the conflicting narrative, and possible catalysts on the horizon, the AI trade is at a key crossroads. Two Mag 7 titans — Alphabet and Nvidia — have events coming up this week that could reshape the direction of not just their stocks, but the entire market.
Let’s break it down:
1. Google’s annual I/O event
When: May 19-20
What’s expected: Google I/O 2026 is expected to be Alphabet’s most AI-centric developer conference to date. The company is seen expanding Gemini from simply a chatbot or app feature into a connective layer across Android, Search, Chrome, and cloud services.
Investors will be assessing Google’s shift from embedding AI features inside products to positioning AI as a sort of operating system for everything.
Where analysts stand: 67 buys, 8 holds, 0 sells, and a 12-month price target 8% above Friday’s close.
What the stock is doing: Up 27% YTD, and 142% over the past year.
2. Nvidia earnings
When: May 20
What’s expected: Investors will be watching demand for Nvidia‘s Blackwell and Rubin platforms, as well as whether the company adjusts its $1 trillion cumulative data-center revenue forecast for 2025 through 2027.
They’ll also be looking for updates on margins and supply constraints tied to AI-infrastructure spending. Further, amid the rise of agentic AI, investors will be monitoring guidance around Nvidia’s CPU business and broader efforts to expand beyond GPUs.
Where analysts stand: 76 buys, 3 holds, 1 sell, and a 12-month price target 22% above Friday’s close.
What the stock is doing: Up 21% YTD, and 67% over the past year.
