Before Nvidia became the world’s most valuable company, before its CEO, Jensen Huang, ascended to mononym fame, before the launch of ChatGPT sparked a gold rush for its chips, Tom Dalton was in the chipmaker’s stock. The date of Dalton’s first Nvidia purchase: May 2019. Dalton had heard of Nvidia, then known mainly for making graphics processing units for video games. But it wasn’t until he heard Jim Cramer touting the company’s grand ambitions to power the next wave of computing with its GPUs that he got the conviction to buy Nvidia shares. Now, six years later, on an unseasonably warm fall day in New York City, Dalton found himself on the sixth floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Also in the room: Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Jim Cramer. “It’s a bucket list for me,” said Dalton, 63, of Florida, shortly after Jim wrapped up his hour-long conversation with Jensen during the Investing Club’s October Monthly Meeting . Dalton has booked profits on a few thousand shares along the way, but his cost basis on his remaining 4,000 shares is $3.82 apiece, worth about $750,000 at current prices. Nvidia’s stock underwent a 10-for-1 split in June 2024 and a 4-for-1 split in July 2021. All historical prices referenced in this story are on a split-adjusted basis. Dalton and the nearly 70 other Investing Club members in attendance heard Jim and Jensen discuss the Nvidia CEO’s personal story as a Taiwanese immigrant; his thoughts on innovation and looking 20 years into the future; and his reaction to the AI industry news of the day and where he believes the technology is headed. Jensen also took questions directly from four members. “Being here is like being with the Beatles and Elvis together,” one member said. “It was like shaking the hand of Einstein,” added another attendee, a U.S. military officer whose first purchase of Nvidia stock was in August 2019. Being here is like being with the Beatles and Elvis together Jensen was the brainchild of the get-together, Jim said, explaining that the Nvidia CEO wanted to hear from the everyday investors whom Jim steered into the stock. In many cases, that investment preceded ChatGPT’s viral arrival in late 2022 , which showcased the promise of generative artificial intelligence and ignited a trillion-dollar AI investment boom. Nvidia’s speedy chips are at the heart of ChatGPT. Soon, they became the hottest commodity in technology, and a financial windfall for Nvidia ensued. It has yet to subside, though questions about its sustainability are mounting in certain corners of Wall Street. Tom Vanderlaan is one of the investors who got into Nvidia long before it was worth more than $4 trillion, and its chips became so coveted that they’ve become a geopolitical football in the U.S.-China rivalry. The Michigan resident — who began watching Jim on “Mad Money” in the wake of his famous “they know nothing rant” — made his first investment in Nvidia in 2015, when its annual sales were around $5 billion; they’re on track to be above $200 billion in its current fiscal year. Vanderlaan said he has a background in electrical engineering, so when he heard Jim discussing this semiconductor company called Nvidia, he did some additional digging. He liked what he heard and invested about $20,000 to start. Like Dalton, Vanderlaan has periodically rung the register to lock in gains — adhering to one of Jim’s long-held investment disciplines. Paper gains are all well and good, but to actually book those profits, you need to sell some shares. “I’m totally playing with the house’s money now,” said Vanderlaan, who said he has also invested in fellow Club stock Apple for more than 15 years and, more recently, has found success in Eli Lilly’s stock. “What we’ve learned from Jim has changed our lives,” added Sandy, his wife. Jason Bozinko got into Nvidia in early 2021. At that point, he’d been following Jim since the early days of “Mad Money” and logged some big wins in stocks, including Boeing . “I remember the big thing at the time was the Omniverse,” said Bozinko, 41, who lives in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton region of Pennsylvania and works in pharma. Omniverse is Nvidia’s virtual simulation software that the company has positioned as enabling robotics development. “It seemed like it had a bunch of different applications,” Bozinko said. “I just figured that, for how much [Jim] was talking about it, this was something I should get myself into.” Bozinko, who has added to his Nvidia position a few times since that initial investment, said he’s up nearly 700% on the 201 shares he now owns. He said he hasn’t taken any profits because he believes there’s a lot of growth ahead for the company. Nevertheless, he acknowledged he might take out his initial investment if the stock has another big move higher. Bozinko said he also started investing in Apple in the 2008-2009 period, leaning on Jim’s recommendation. While he’s sitting on a monster gain there — to the tune of almost 1,800% — he said he has some regrets about how much Apple stock he sold. Tim Lukasik is a teacher in Western New York. For the past two decades, he’s taught a personal finance class. More recently, he spearheaded the creation of a new elective on the principles of investing. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nvidia is one of the stocks they have discussed. During the event, Lukasik asked Jensen a question: Where should a high-schooler be looking to invest now? “Listen to Jim,” Jensen quipped, as he said he’s so focused on Nvidia’s mission — to change how computers work — that he’s hesitant to weigh in on anything beyond that. Still, Lukasik, 50, said he appreciated hearing Jensen’s thoughts on the future of technology, including buzzy areas like quantum computing, throughout the event. “For the kids, they’re all asking, ‘Where do we go next?’ They all kind of agree that Nvidia is a great place to start, and it should be in their portfolio. Coming here and hearing from Jensen and quantum computing and the other areas, for a 17- and 18-year-old, there’s some growth. That’s what they really want to hear.” Anthony Corsello, 39, a police officer from Long Island, has owned Nvidia since July 2023. With how much Nvidia was being discussed, “I finally decided, no more sitting on the sidelines,” said Corsello. “I invested a decent chunk, average price of like $42, and just trimmed along the way, and here we are.” Summing up what it was like to hear from Jensen and Jim together, Corsello called it “surreal.” I finally decided, no more sitting on the sidelines “Most of us are just everyday people. We’re not used to this kind of stuff,” Corsello said, standing not far above the NYSE’s iconic trading floor, which opened in 1903, when companies like Tennessee Coal & Iron and American Smelting & Refining were constituents of the Dow Jones Industrial Average . Corsello was also among the attendees who had a question for Jensen, asking for his thoughts on how AI could change the work of law enforcement. One of Corsello’s big takeaways to guide his investing was Jensen’s “confidence in the future of his company.” He continued, “Just overall his demeanor. He’s like, ‘We’re going to do this and there’s no stopping us.’ I almost don’t even stress that investment with Jensen.” When Donna Long put her first dollars into Nvidia stock, she had just retired and was grappling with a serious health issue. It was 2021. She said she wasn’t doing a ton of investing at that time, but she kept hearing Jim mention this Nvidia company. She knew Jim preaches that no amount is too small to put to work, so that’s what she did. Long, 71, of New Jersey, started with a five-share purchase. “Then I bought five more. Then I bought five more,” before buying a final two shares, she recounted by phone on Wednesday. Long and her husband, Glenn Kunstle, attended the meeting on Tuesday. “We’re still on the high of it,” she said. Currently, Long’s Nvidia position is worth about $30,000. She said she’s trimmed the position to take out her initial investment. Beyond just Nvidia, she said she’s made a few hundred thousand dollars following Jim’s investment recommendations over the years. “Even though I didn’t make millions, that is a success story,” Long said, as she drank her morning coffee. Her cup of choice: a black mug, emblazoned with the Nvidia logo. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long NVDA, AAPL, LLY, and BA. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . 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