AI stalwart Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) reported Wednesday after the market close fourth-quarter results and forward guidance that exceeded optimistic forecasts.
Nvidia Headline Q4 Metrics: Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia reported fourth-quarter non-GAAP earnings per share of $5.16, which came in ahead of a Street consensus estimate of $4.64 according to data from Benzinga Pro.
The company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $22.10 billion which beat a Street estimate of $20.62 billion. Revenue in the fourth quarter was up 22% from the third quarter and up 265% year-over-year.
Revenue was the following by sector in the fourth quarter with year-over-year increases.
- Data Center: $18.4 billion, +409%
- Gaming: $2.9 billion, +56%
- Professional Visualization: $463 million, +105%
- Automotive: $281 million, -4%
“Accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point. Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations,” said Chairman and CEO Jensen Huang, who is dubbed Godfather of AI by Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.
Huang said the company’s Data Center platform is “powered by increasingly diverse drivers,” with demand for data processing, training and inference from large cloud-service providers.
Ahead of the results, sell-side analysts factored in a strong performance, with Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore predicting a strong quarter in line with recent expectations. Rosenblatt’s Hans Mosesmann also forecasts a beat-and-raise, driven by product cycle momentum and upcoming offerings.
Forward Outlook: Nvidia guided to first quarter revenue of $ billion, plus or minus 2%. Street expectations for the first quarter is at $4.99 EPS and $22.11 billion in revenue, with Morgan Stanley slightly above consensus at $22.8 billion.
Outlook: Nvidia said it expects its first quarter revenue to be $24.0 billion, plus or minus 2%. This total comes in ahead of a Street consensus estimate of $22.16 billion.
The company sees first quarter non-GAAP gross margins coming in at 77.0%.
Nvidia Stock: Shares of Nvidia are up 6% to $718.00 in after-hours trading Wednesday. Nvidia stock is up 40.25% year-to-date, outperforming major ETFs such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX). This follows a 240% surge in 2023.
After reaching an all-time high of $746.11 on Feb. 12 and becoming the fourth-most valued global company, the stock has pulled back due to earnings concerns, slipping to the 6th position in terms of market cap.
Morgan Stanley’s Moore sees additional catalysts beyond earnings, expecting insights into new products at the March graphics technology conference.