Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks to media before a roundtable with South Korean AI and robotics startups at the Shilla Hotels, June 8, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea.

Chung Sung-jun | Getty Images

Nvidia investors were on tenterhooks amid reports that the chip giant's board had convened to discuss CEO Jensen Huang's future with the company. In total, six analysts had downgraded the stock between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The New York Times on Wednesday reported that Huang had engaged in a second extramarital affair with an employee. The CEO was already under scrutiny after Huang admitted to having a romantic relationship with a woman U.S. intelligence believes is a Chinese spy.

Nvidia is yet to make a public statement about Huang's future with the company. However, CNBC confirmed late on Wednesday that the board was meeting to decide whether to oust him after more than 30 years at Nvidia's helm.

Analysts then raced to downgrade the stock following the latest events, including longtime Nvidia bull Ben Reitzes of Melius Research.

The company's stock is down 7% so far this week, after tumbling 4.3% on Monday and 5.5% on Tuesday as Huang dominated headlines around the world. Shares rebounded 2.9% on Wednesday, but were last seen roughly 5.4% lower in premarket trading on Thursday.

Here's what analysts and investors are saying about the company and the stock.

Melius Research: Hold, $185

Reitzes changed his rating for Nvidia to hold from buy. His price target is now $185 — down from $315 — is 6% above the level at which shares last closed.

"We thought we had experience, but nothing prepares you for what has happened at Nvidia over the last few weeks - and especially since Saturday. The only situation remotely close to this we can recall was HP in 2010. Waiting to see what that Board would do (and who they would hire) that time didn't work out. It was really cheap, too, at ~9x EPS right after its initial swoon. Nvidia is a much stronger, more important company, but its market moves far faster, and this story touches geopolitical flashpoints. In this unique crisis, we have decided (reluctantly) to step aside on Nvidia (now a Hold) after recommending it since we launched our AI platform coverage universe in July 2023," he said.

Evercore: In line, $186

Analyst Mark Lipacis downgraded Nvidia to in line from outperform. He also lowered his price target on shares to $186 from $465, implying 7% upside from Wednesday's close.

"The Wall Street Journal reported Nvidia's Board was 'preparing to oust' its CEO after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy. The NY Times reported that Nvidia's Board hired law firm Wachtell Lipton to lead an investigation into the matter. While Nvidia's Board said that it 'has no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised,' we believe that the investigation will take time and we expect NVDA's P/E multiple will continue to compress consistent with our 'Late-Innings of the Semi Cycle' thesis, especially since Nvidia has no obvious succession plan or number 2 operational executive," he said.

William Blair: Market perform

William Blair's Sebastien Naji downgraded Nvidia to market perform from outperform.

"After a head-spinning week of news and allegations around CEO Jensen Huang, Nvidia's board is reportedly preparing to remove him, according to the Wall Street Journal. The full story will take time to emerge and may require several investigations, including the board's own independent probe and a requested U.S. House briefing. What is already clear is that Huang's likely departure and heightened scrutiny of the company will be a significant overhang on NVDA shares in the near term. Meanwhile, the potential for a slower AI buildout and more intense competition from other chipmakers will only add to execution risk...governance and regulatory pressure, the potential for more serious fallout, and a sudden change in management are likely to muddle both execution and sentiment. As a result, we are downgrading NVDA to Market Perform and will wait for the dust to settle before reassessing," he said.

Oppenheimer: Perform

Analyst Rick Schafer downgraded the AI stock to perform from outperform.

"We are downgrading shares of NVDA and removing our price target following reports (WSJ, NYT) of founding CEO Jensen Huang's imminent departure amidst allegations of a 2nd extramarital affair. Credible media reports circulated Wednesday evening that NVDA's board is preparing to part ways with Huang following a widely reported relationship with an alleged Chinese spy compounded by new allegations of a relationship with an NVDA executive. This 'one-two' punch appears to have forced the board's hand...While we see upside to the F3Q (Oct.) print and F4Q (Jan.) outlook, we expect fundamentals to take a backseat near term. The departure of Mr. Huang could, in our view, translate to a lingering share overhang," he said.

Bernstein: Market perform, $200

Analyst Stacy Rasgon slashed his price target from $400 and downgraded the stock from market outperform.

"So now what? On the positive, the fundamentals of the business (if not the leadership) are
clearly still intact with numbers that remain massive (and probably still headed higher). We don't think the company should have huge issues operating while engaged in a search for new leadership. And (of course) the shares are almost absurdly cheap (and getting cheaper as we speak); clearly there is a lot of bad news getting priced in here," he said.

"On the other hand, we find it hard to advocate stepping in here in size as there will no doubt be more allegations to come (there is a trope that says if you find two ants in your kitchen the best estimate of the total number of ants in your kitchen is not two...), both from internal issues as well as headlines related to the business, new governmental investigations etc. Adding on the new variable of who will take the reins (internal? external?) and anything else they may or may not uncover creates additional uncertainty (and we can't even begin to speculate as to who they might find to fill Jensen's shoes)," he added.

KeyBanc: Sector weight

Analyst John Vinh downgraded the stock from overweight.

"We believe Huang's departure represents a material increase in strategic, organizational, and execution risk that warrants a higher risk premium and lower valuation multiple for the stock. While we expect core fundamentals to remain strong for the foreseeable future, we believe it will be challenging for NVDA to find a successor with the same leadership and strategic vision as Huang," he said.

Yorkville Ives & Co.: Outperform

"In our view the writing is on the wall that Jensen's days at Nvidia could be numbered and we would expect this to be a very fluid situation over the next 48 hours," renowned tech bull Dan Ives said in a note overnight.

"Jensen has created a black eye moment for himself and Nvidia and now has created a spider web of complexity that Wall Street, Silicon Valley, DC, and the global tech ecosystem are trying to figure out what is next."

"We believe Nvidia's value is $300 per share with Jensen as CEO and $225 per share without Jensen as CEO," Ives added.

"The stock will clearly be under pressure with this fluid news but the reality is its a dark day for Nvidia, but the company will navigate this turmoil and get through to the other side and remain a core foundational piece of the AI Revolution."

Citi: Buy

Citi analysts said overnight that they had trimmed their target price for Nvidia to $225, down from $285.

"If Jensen were forced out, it would mark the end of an era," Malik and Sylla said in their note.

Nvidia board to decide on CEO Jensen Huang's future

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"Under his leadership, Nvidia became the dominant force in AI infrastructure, the primary beneficiary of the global AI spending cycle, and one of the world's most valuable companies. A leadership transition creates an overhang on the stock given his central role in strategy, product vision, customer relationships, and investor confidence."

They said Nvidia CFO Colette Kress could serve as interim CEO while the board evaluates external candidates.

Manulife Investment Management

"As much as there is a lesson here for Nvidia around corporate governance, around key man risk… the reality is there is still 40,000 other employees at Nvidia, and there is some real talent there, and I have no doubt that there are some executors within Nvidia that the board will be able to tap to execute on their existing plans and continue to manage the company," Nathan Thooft, the firm's CIO, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Thursday.

"I think the bigger risk is the foresight in the next several years, where Nvidia was driven by a lot of the mindset and thoughts that come out of their CEO, and if he's no longer there they're going to have to find that replacement."

Robert Greifeld, former Nasdaq chairman and CEO

"You can't deny the board has done a horrible job of succession planning," Greifeld told CNBC's "Morning Call" on Thursday.

"What the board has to find out in the next days or weeks is, did Jensen lie to them? Right? Did he lie to them repeatedly on different topics? We don't know. Does he lose their trust basically on lying to them over the years? I'm sure the board would love to keep Jensen in place in some role. Right, his value to the company is quite large."

Greifeld said he does not see a premium in Nvidia stock, noting that it trades at a low multiple "so there's no bubble to burst here with respect to the valuation."

"If there's a new CEO in, they don't have to make any decisions day one, day 30, day 60. They have time to really get their footing and come up with their own strategic vision," he told CNBC. "You're not going to change what is in the development plan for chips that exists today. So I think certainly it would be a loss, but given the nature of the business and the long lead time for these chip developments and the long contractual relationships they have with customers, it would give them certainly room to maneuver."

Questar Capital Partners

CIO Richard Reyle told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" that Nvidia's board had painted themselves into a corner by not having any kind of succession plan in place.

"I've heard him compared to Steve Jobs being removed from Apple, but [Jobs] put in place a succession plan and cultivated and groomed Tim Cook for years, so that when he passed away and [Cook] took over, there was a real leader there," he said. "Right now, Nvidia doesn't have that person in place, so it's going to be a choice of keeping Jensen and being faced with … all kinds of interrogations, or they're going to have to move on from him, and that's just going to make the stock uninvestable. That doesn't make the AI trade uninvestable, but it certainly makes Nvidia uninvestable."

Reyle said he saw the stock moving "lower and much lower from here."

"There's no obvious [replacement] there that can step right in and take over, so they may kind of try to ride this out and retain him," he said. "But there's going to be a lot of difficulty in doing so because he's going to become something of a liability."

UBS

"NVIDIA upheaval puts tech concentration risks in focus," Mark Haefele, global wealth management chief investment officer at UBS, and his team said on Thursday morning.

"Without taking any views on individual companies, the episode reinforces the importance of investment diversification and selectivity as the AI trade matures. We retain our conviction in AI's long-term potential, with compute demand remaining robust and earnings resilient. But elevated expectations and potentially wide differences in company outcomes can leave concentrated portfolios exposed to company-specific setbacks."

Wind Shift Capital

"Jensen Huang is toast," Bill Blain, founder and principal, said in his morning newsletter. "Nvidia's dependence on Jensen Huang is now exposed as a major market risk. The dominant firm within the AI industry lacks clear succession planning and Huang was seen as the acceptable face of AI by the public."

"Confidence in the AI sector has been wobbling for months," he added. "Huang's departure could lead to instability and trigger another collapse."

Read more CNBC news on Nvidia

Source: CNBC · Liz Napolitano, Chloe Taylor

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