Nvidia earnings live updates: Data center sales, margins and AI outlook in focus
Quick Take
Nvidia's earnings report highlights strong data center sales and optimistic AI growth outlook.
Key Points
- Data center sales exceeded expectations.
- Margins remain robust amid market challenges.
- AI demand drives future growth projections.
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Nvidia reports fiscal first-quarter results after the bell. Here's what analysts are expecting, according to LSEG.
- Earnings per share: $1.76
- Revenue: $78.85 billion
What to Know
- The conference call with analysts is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
- Investors are focused on Nvidia's data center growth and will be looking for any signs that demand is picking up or waning heading into the back half of 2026.
- Growth is coming largely from tech's hyperscalers, which are showing unending demand for the compute capacity needed to train and run large language models.
- Competition in AI chips is picking up as Amazon and Google bolster their custom silicon production.
- Nvidia's results are viewed as a proxy for the AI boom, which has been the primary driver of the U.S. stock market over the last couple years.
- As attention turns to the earnings call, investors will want to hear what CEO Jensen Huang has to say about new customers and markets.
Analysts are looking for year-over-year revenue growth of 79%, reflecting an ongoing spending splurge by the world's top internet companies and AI model developers. The robust expansion is expected to continue, with analysts projecting sales growth of 86% in the fiscal second quarter to $86.8 billion, according to LSEG.
Despite its historic run, Nvidia is no longer the darling of Wall Street among chipmakers as investors have gravitated toward Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and memory company Micron, which have been some of the market's top performers this year.
Still, Nvidia's past month has been solid, with the stock gaining 11% over that stretch, "recognition that its position as the critical provider of compute equipment is not changing any time soon," analysts at D.A. Davidson wrote in a report this week. They recommend buying the shares.
With competition emerging from the likes of Amazon and Google as well as from smaller chip rival AMD, investors are eager to hear updates on Vera Rubin, Nvidia's newest and most-advanced rack-scale system.
CNBC's reporters covering Nvidia earnings from bureaus in San Francisco and Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Nvidia hit $5 trillion in October. How long until $6 trillion?
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Nvidia's stock is up roughly 20% so far this year, underperforming many of its semiconductor peers but still enough of a gain to support the biggest market cap in the world.
Nvidia became the first $5 trillion company in October, and inched closer to reaching the $6 trillion record last week, though after a bit of a pullback the number now sits at $5.5 trillion.
The company's record-breaking run comes as chip companies not named Nvidia hit historic highs. Intel had its best month ever in April, as agentic AI spins up a major renaissance for the central processing unit. Memory makers like Micron, meanwhile, have seen shares surge amid a shortage for the key type of chip needed to support AI.
Alphabet briefly surpassed Nvidia to become the world's most valuable company in after-hours trading earlier this month, but for now that appears to be a momentary blip. Google's parent is currently worth about $4.6 trillion.
—Katie Tarasov
Nvidia's data center business is booming as tech giants ramp up AI spending
Nvidia has been a leading beneficiary of the AI boon due to its graphics processing units, or GPUs, that are used to train and run powerful foundation models.
Data center revenue for Nvidia's fiscal first quarter is expected show an 87% increase from a year earlier to $73.1 billion, representing even faster expansion than the 75% year-over-year jump in the prior quarter and 73% growth rate in the same period a year ago.
The persistent growth reflects the exploding capital expenditures from hyperscalers, which are snapping up GPUs for their data center computing infrastructure that underpins their AI initiatives.
On the same day last month, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft all reported quarterly results, giving investors an updated glimpse into their capex forecasts for the year. Financial firms like Evercore and Bank of America are projecting the group will spend over $1 trillion on AI-related capex in 2027, which ultimately benefits Nvidia.
John Belton, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, said in an email on Tuesday that he's "looking for whether the company is broadening its customer base as that remains a major risk," adding that five names account for roughly half of Nvidia's business.
"I'm questioning things such as how durable the growth within that segment of the business is as well as if they're expanding the customer base and broadening the product set," Belton said.
—Jonathan Vanian
— Originally published at cnbc.com
