Nvidia doubles its sales, but investors have their eye on the future
By Clare Duffy, Ramishah Maruf, John Towfighi, CNN
New York (CNN) — Nvidia’s earnings Wednesday beat expectations and its revenue doubled from a year ago, but it was the potential for future growth that excited investors.
The chipmaker has seen soaring revenue sitting at the head of the AI boom. The company earned $96.2 billion in the most recent quarter, a 106% rise from a year ago. Revenue from sales to data centers, an overwhelming chunk of its business, was $89 billion, an increase of 117% from a year ago.
Despite those blockbuster numbers, it wasn’t until CFO Colette Kress said on a call with investors that the company expected its fiscal 2028 income to grow 70% that its shares took an upward turn. Analysts had expected 45%.
Nvidia (NVDA) shares rose about 4% after-hours, reversing course and jumping higher after initially dipping following the earnings release.
Investors will be tuning into what CEO Jensen Huang has to say in the company’s earnings call this evening, especially as scrutiny rises over the AI industry’s circular financing. Nvidia is viewed as a bellwether for the state of the AI market because so much of the industry’s technology runs on its chips.
Nvidia shares are up about 12% this year, roughly in line with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. After years of enormous gains, Nvidia shares have seen more modest gains this year. Recent quarters have seen Nvidia post better-than-expected results only for its stock to dip following the report.
If Nvidia’s earnings are strong, the thinking goes, other leading tech firms will see sufficient future returns from AI to keep investing in its products — and investors can expect to keep seeing returns from the market.
But building AI infrastructure is incredibly expensive. The so-called hyperscalers that are building out data centers, like Meta, Microsoft and Google, have started to face tough questions from investors about whether those billions in investments will pay off — or if they should pull back their spending.
Some market watchers worry that exuberance over AI has bid up tech stocks too high — and that it’s a bubble waiting to burst.
Nvidia’s earnings were also being closely watched this quarter because of its growing investments in other tech companies to help fund their AI infrastructure build-outs. Earlier this month, Nvidia announced a partnership with a group of Wall Street firms to allow its customers to borrow money to buy its products for their AI infrastructure.
Some analysts have questioned whether this circular financing strategy could be risky for Nvidia if those customers don’t see meaningful returns from that infrastructure.
The-CNN-Wire
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