Nvidia is a strong and well-known semiconductor manufacturer. After a failed merger with arm Corp for close to 40 billion USD, the company is heavily and strategically thinking about its next steps. Assume that the board meets after 2021 (January 2022) close and decides to invest in several acquisitions (20 billion USD) to make their digital twin business area stronger and market leading. Nvidia is already strong in AI chip production (ASIC) and Graphic cards, both corner stones of the digital twin business they are striving for. Read the articles enclosed (in the links) to get a better picture of what Nvidia is aiming at and use that information to make an educated decision about how to time, structure and finance future acquisitions given the current stock market (and general economic outlook) situation.
As you can see above NVDA was selling for well below 100$ per share until COVID-19 situation was under control. The march 2020 COVID-19 hit in fact wasn’t that severe for Nvidia, like for many other corporations. In Spring 2021 with the announcement of the arm M&A the market reacted positively, but ever since dropping the M&A plans stock price has been heavily declining. Not even the excellent results from 2021 where able to halt erosion. What are Nvidia’s options under the current scenario.
Read the enclosed articles and financial statements • Identify the main business areas Nvidia is on the market (you can find in the FS 2021)
• Which risks has the board of directors identified for the near future of the corporation?
• From your understanding and reading, which of the Nvidia assets could hide substantial risks (from a valuation perspective) if any? Explain.
• Look at their capital structure, compute the leverage, compare with semiconductor industry, and analyze their options to finance its 20 billion target acquisitions.
• Will future earnings sustain the desired aggressive growth and secure their market dominance in the near future?
