The stock market cares more about future earnings potential than the past -- and that may be why Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) are all worth more than Alphabet ( GOOG 1.61%) ( GOOGL 1.56%) today even though Alphabet is the only S&P 500 stock with over $100 billion in trailing-12-month net income.

Nvidia's market value soared to $3.92 trillion on Thursday, potentially making it the most valuable company ever, driven by Wall Street's AI optimism. Surpassing Apple's previous record, Nvidia's specialized chips are crucial for training large AI models,

Nvidia hit a market value of $3.92 trillion on Thursday, on track to become the most valuable company in history, as Wall Street doubled down on optimism about AI. Shares of the leading designer of high-end AI chips rose as much as 2.