Veteran growth investor Louis Navellier says AI developers' constant demand for more power continues to fuel the AI boom — a dynamic he views as favorable for Nvidia (NVDA), whose shares recently traded up 2.19%. Related names moved alongside: SoftBank (9984.T) gained 1.49% and Oracle (ORCL) rose 1.62%.

Nvidia's push into power

Nvidia is becoming more vertically integrated, taking stakes in companies that help secure power for data centers, whether from the grid or from independent power sources. For a company best known for designing chips, it is a notable widening of the playbook: with AI developers competing for compute, electricity availability is shaping where and how quickly new data centers can actually be built.

The company is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire an interest in Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a firm that arranges power for data centers. Nvidia has also taken an equity interest in SoftBank's SB Energy — a deal tied to a megacampus in Ohio that OpenAI leased for 20 years. In addition, Nvidia made a $2 billion investment in Lancium, the power developer behind a campus in Abilene, Texas, where OpenAI rents computing capacity from Oracle.

In Navellier's assessment, Nvidia is clearly becoming more vertically integrated in data center development, which he argues should secure its market dominance for 20 or more years — especially since many data centers operate under 20-year leases. The investments also link Nvidia's fortunes to the specific campuses where OpenAI has already committed to computing capacity for years to come.

NVIDIA is the earnings finale

Expectations are high heading into Nvidia's announcement on August 26. Analysts expect the company to nearly double its earnings and revenue from a year ago. Navellier said he will be paying close attention to what CEO Jensen Huang has to say about AI demand and what he sees coming down the pipeline.

Nvidia's results could push S&P 500 earnings growth above 50% for the quarter — a figure Navellier called "simply stunning" and one that shows just how strong this earnings season has been. That arithmetic is a reminder of how much weight Nvidia's results now carry in the index's aggregate earnings picture.

Navellier's stock grading system rates Nvidia as a C. That may seem like a low grade given his longer-term outlook. He notes the rankings are weighted 70% on the quantitative score and 30% on the fundamental score.

On the fundamental side, Nvidia carries low marks for earnings surprises and earnings momentum. While the reports are good, Navellier says NVDA has hit an inflection point where the rate of increase is decreasing.

On the quantitative side, institutional buying pressure has waned. He characterizes both as shorter-term trends.

Long term, Navellier's forecast is that NVDA will be trading at $500 by the end of the decade.

Nvidia won't be the only thing Wall Street is watching

On August 26, Wall Street will also receive the July Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.

Economists expect headline PCE to rise 0.1% in July and 3.6% over the past 12 months — down slightly from a 3.7% annual pace in June. Core PCE, which excludes food and energy, is expected to rise 0.2% for the month and 3.3% year over year.

After the encouraging recent Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index reports, Navellier is looking for inflation to continue to behave. Another favorable reading would be good news for stocks, especially with the Fed's September meeting right around the corner.

The Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming kicks off August 27. The big news, according to Navellier, will be what Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has to say. He anticipates Warsh will discuss the productivity gains being generated by artificial intelligence and why those gains are not inflationary. With inflation and interest rates still front and center, Wall Street will be listening closely.

Between Nvidia, inflation, and the Fed, there is plenty that could move stocks in the week ahead.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug. 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section, and was syndicated via Yahoo Finance.