Nvidia shares inch up on hope for rising orders

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Nvidia Corp. inched higher Monday amid investor hopes that orders, mainly from China, are slowly rebounding for the graphics chip maker.

Pacific Crest analyst Michael McConnell said in a client note that it looks as if Nvidia's GPU orders from desktop and notebook computer manufacturers, as well as companies in China, "rebounded strongly off depressed levels in February, registering high-double-digit growth in unit terms on a monthly basis."

A GPU is a graphics processing unit, used mainly to process 3-D graphics.

McConnell, who rates Nvidia "Sector Perform," said inventory rebalancing by manufacturers and China's rural stimulus program, as well as the inclusion of Nvidia customers Acer, Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Lenovo as eligible brands, subsidizes the program.

Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia rose 16 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $8.55 in afternoon trading after earlier hitting a high of $8.96. The stock has traded in the 52-week range of $5.75 to $25.35.