Nvidia predicted to surpass Apple in stock buybacks, dividends

For the better part of a decade, Apple was the undisputed king of giving money back to shareholders. Now Nvidia is pulling up with a cash cannon powered by AI demand, and the numbers suggest it could dethrone Apple’s legendary capital return machine faster than most investors expected.

Evercore ISI analysts project Nvidia will return $115 billion to shareholders in calendar year 2026 and a staggering $230 billion in 2027.

The numbers behind Nvidia’s buyback blitz

In its fiscal second quarter ending July 2026, Nvidia allocated a record $26 billion to shareholders. That broke down to approximately $20 billion in stock repurchases and $6 billion in dividends.

The company has committed to returning at least 50% of its free cash flow to investors on an annual basis.

Back in May 2026, Nvidia raised its quarterly dividend from $0.01 to $0.25 per share, a 25x increase. The company still has roughly $99 billion remaining under its current stock repurchase authorization.

Jim Cramer has publicly advocated for Nvidia to quintuple its buyback program to $500 billion, essentially urging the chipmaker to run the same playbook Apple perfected over the last decade.

Apple’s transition creates an opening

John Ternus officially became Apple’s CEO on September 1, 2026, with Cook transitioning to the role of executive chairman.

Apple essentially invented the modern tech buyback playbook. Since 2012, the company’s repurchase program became a key pillar of its investment thesis. That strategy contributed to significant P/E multiple expansion over the years following 2015.

Evercore ISI analysts expect Nvidia’s escalating shareholder returns could trigger a similar P/E expansion, the kind of valuation re-rating that turns a growth stock into a growth-and-income stock and attracts an entirely new class of institutional buyers.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.