Nvidia hits record high ahead of earnings, and it could be a sign of good things to come

Nvidia is setting records ahead of its Thursday afternoon earnings report. One market watcher says it's a sign of what's to come.

"There's an old trading rule: When a stock makes all-time highs, pay attention," Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Wednesday. "It usually means big, good things ahead, and I think that's true with Nvidia."

The semiconductor stock set an all-time high in Thursday's trading for its second day in a row. Before these back-to-back record-breaking sessions, its shares had last seen new highs in mid-March.

Its positioning in certain breakout tech areas should help it continue to reach never-before-seen levels, Schlossberg said.

It "has just made a tremendous pivot away from gaming to essentially becoming the platform for AI and cloud computing, which is really the future of all computing," the trader said.

"It's going to be involved in financial fraud [prevention], in taking care of customer suggestions, in academic research," he added. "Every possible venue of computing going forward, Nvidia is going to be a piece of that because they're running the chips that run the foundation for all of these applications."

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The California-based chipmaker is expected to post solid earnings and sales growth for its April-ended quarter, partially fueled by corporate tax cuts passed in December. Profit should pop 84.5 percent in its fiscal first quarter from a year earlier and a total 34.5 percent for its fiscal 2019 ending January from fiscal 2018, according to FactSet data. Sales are projected to grow more than 49 percent in its first quarter from a year earlier and 27 percent for fiscal 2019 from 2018.

"I think it's very, very bullish and if the stock comes out and actually forecasts higher-than-expected revenues going forward, I think you'll see even fresher highs after the call," Schlossberg said.

Michael Bapis, partner and managing director at the Bapis Group at HighTower Advisors, is in the Nvidia bull camp, too.

"The big thing with technology is companies continue to reinvent themselves, and Nvidia has done a great job of that. I think you throw the fundamentals and the technicals out the window and ride the momentum," Bapis said Wednesday on "Trading Nation." "They're going to surge forward. They're in a growth phase right now."

Its stock is on track to close Thursday with its sixth-straight session of gains. Over that period, its shares have soared 14 percent, far better than the 7 percent increase in the PHLX Semiconductor SOXX ETF.

Nvidia isn't the only semi name Bapis favors.

"We also like Micron as a value name in the space," said Bapis. "In the technology space, they've recreated themselves and there's some value. They're trading at like 5 or 6 times earnings and we like them as well."

Micron Technology has risen 13 percent during the past six sessions and is up more than 26 percent this year. It trades at 5 times forward earnings, below the 14.6 times multiple on the SOXX ETF.

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Trading Nation is a multimedia financial news program that shows investors and traders how to use the news of the day to their advantage. This is where experts from across the financial world – including macro strategists, technical analysts, stock-pickers, and traders who specialize in options, currencies, and fixed income – come together to find the best ways to capitalize on recent developments in the market. Trading Nation: Where headlines become opportunities.

Sara Eisen joined CNBC in December 2013 as a correspondent, focusing on the global consumer. She is co-anchor of the 10AM ET hour of CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" (M-F, 9AM-11AM ET), broadcast from Post 9 at the New York Stock Exchange.

In March 2018, Eisen was named co-anchor of CNBC's "Power Lunch" (M-F, 1PM-3PM ET), which broadcasts from CNBC Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

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