Huang Suggests Splashy Circular Deals Will Pay Off in Nvidia’s Bid for Influence
33 minutes ago
Adding fuel to investors’ recent worries about an AI bubble have been concerns about whether an increasingly intricate web of “circular” deals involving investments in customers—such as Nvidia’s deals with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Claude maker Anthropic, and others that also buy its chips—could be taken as a signal echoing features of the dotcom bubble before it burst.
However, CEO Jensen Huang dismissed worries about its investments in its own customers on Wednesday’s night’s post-earnings conference call, saying they’ve helped the company expand its reach and influence in ways that will only pay off in the future.
Calling OpenAI “one of the most consequential once-in-a-generation companies” out there for its innovation in the AI space, Huang said, “I fully expect that investment to translate to extraordinary returns.”
“Nvidia’s platform is the singular platform in the world that runs every AI model,” Huang said. “We run them all.”
Chip Stocks Get a Boost in Extended Trading
1 hr 1 min ago
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO) and other chip stocks climbed in after-hours trading amid the investor optimism about Nvidia’s strong earnings report.
Shares of Nvidia partners, including Micron Technology (MU), Super Micro Computer (SMCI) and Arm (ARM) also posted solid gains.
The better-than-expected results from the leading AI chipmaker could be taken a strong signal in favor of the AI trade, which has faltered recently amid worries about an AI bubble.
Nvidia Could Top Targets for Blackwell and Rubin Sales
1 hr 35 min ago
CFO Colette Kress told investors that based on current demand trends, the company could be set to exceed its own goals for Blackwell and Rubin sales.
The chipmaker, which previously said it aimed for $500 billion of combined revenue for Blackwell and Rubin through the end of 2026, suggested orders could top that figure as companies clamor for compute to support AI.
“There’s definitely an opportunity for us to have more on top of the $500 billion,” Kress said.
Executives Dismiss Worries About an AI Bubble
1 hr 42 min ago
Addressing persistent worries about an AI bubble after a big run-up in AI stocks this year, executives told analysts and investors on the call they see the sector’s explosive growth very differently.
CFO Colette Kress said she believes the industry is still in the “early innings” of AI adoption, with significant growth still ahead as its use spreads across industries.
“We believe Nvidia will be the superior choice for the $3-4 trillion in annual AI infrastructure build we estimate by the end of a decade,” Kress said, as demand for AI infrastructure continues to exceed the company’s expectations.
CEO Jensen Huang said he believes the technology could soon be reaching a “tipping point,” as it transforms the ways more companies do business, adding he sees Nvidia as a key enabler to what could be a “revolutionary” technological transition.
‘Not Sure What Else You Can Ask For,’ Investor Says
1 hr 44 min ago
Nvidia’s report and guidance delivered as much as investors could’ve wanted, Bernstein Research Senior Analyst Stacy Rasgon told Yahoo Finance in a televised interview Wednesday.
“I’m not sure what else you can ask for, at least on the print,” Rasgon said. “It was a nice, solid beat and raise.”
Citing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s prepared comments about the state of his business, Rasgon said it appeared that the company is very comfortable with demand trends.
“This doesn’t sound like a guy that’s getting any more bearish on AI,” he said.
Has the Market Just Been ‘Resurrected’?
1 hr 54 min ago
Did Nvidia’s earnings turn the tides?
“This was very much the market event we’ve been waiting for,” Defiance ETF’ss chief investment officer Sylvia Jablonski told Bloomberg in a Wednesday interview.
“With the market having pulled back the last couple of days, I think that all eyes were on this read right now,” Jablonski said. “And it was going to be the thing that resurrected the market and got it going back into its bullish momentum.”
Next-Gen Rubin Platform Still on Track for 2026, CFO Says
1 hr 59 min ago
CFO Colette Kress assured investors on the company’s earnings call that Rubin, the company’s next-generation AI system after Blackwell, remains on track for 2026.
Rubin, which is expected to deliver significant improvements in performance compared to Blackwell, is set for a “fast” rollout, said Kress.
Nvidia Continues Working to Unwind China Sales Restrictions
2 hr 1 min ago
CFO Colette Kress told investors during the post-earnings conference call that Nvidia is “disappointed” by rules preventing it from shipping more competitive data center products to China, and that the company remains committed to engaging with the U.S. government and China on trade restrictions, viewing Nvidia’s ability to sell to China as key to America’s ability to compete in AI.
“To establish a sustainable leadership position in AI computing, America must win the support of every developer and be the platform of choice for every commercial business, including those in China,” Kress said, echoing past comments from CEO Jensen Huang, who has advocated for more licenses for the company to sell its advanced chips to China.
Nvidia Logged More Than $51B in Q3 Data Center Revenue
2 hr 8 min ago
Some of Nvidia’s segments posted big revenue growth in the latest quarter.
Data center revenue, the company’s largest segment by far—it represented $51.2 billion of the company’s record $57 billion total sales—rose 66% year-over-year and 25% from Q2.
Gaming revenue was $4.27 billion, up 30% year-over-year but down 1% sequentially. “Channel inventories have reached more normalized levels heading into the holiday season,” the company said in a written commentary.
Professional visualization revenue rose 26% from Q2, to $760 million. It rose 56% year-over-year.
Automotive revenue, at $592 million, rose 1% quarter-on-quarter, and 32% from the year-ago quarter.
Here’s the ‘Real Risk’ for Nvidia, Investor Says
2 hr 14 min ago
In an interview with CNBC after Nvidia released its numbers, James Demmert, chief investment officer at Main Street Research, cited competing products from other big tech companies as possible threats to Nvidia.
“The real risk in Nvida isn’t the AI cycle, because we’re early,” Demmert said. “But it is the product. We’ve got Google and Amazon coming along with some chips as well, and that could be something we look at in ’26.”
For now, though, Demmert advised buying the shares, citing a recent pullback.
“I think if you don’t own enough of it, you gotta add more here,” he said.
Will Results Revive the Bull Market. This Investor Thinks So.
2 hr 26 min ago
Nvidia’s results and outlook might be good enough to re-energize the bull market, one investor said Wednesday.
The company is “ground zero for the entire Artificial Intelligence build out,” Northlight Asset Management CIO Chris Zaccarelli said in emailed comments. Amid worries of a bubble, he said, “the largest technology companies in the world are extremely profitable and they are reinvesting billions of dollars into data centers, servers, and chips and the spending is real.”
Investors may now have reason to revive their bullish outlooks, he wrote.“While a market pullback can happen at any time, as long as the economy can stay out of a recession, we expect the bull market to resume,” wrote Zaccarelli.
The ‘AI Ecosystem Is Scaling Fast,’ CEO Huang Says
2 hr 48 min ago
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang struck an upbeat tone in comments provided alongside the company’s latest results, saying the “AI ecosystem is scaling fast.”
“Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out,” said Huang. “Compute demand keeps accelerating and compounding.”
Huang sought to describe a healthy—and growing—industry at a time when investors’ questions about AI spending have weighed on tech shares’ valuations at times.
“The AI ecosystem is scaling fast — with more new foundation model makers, more AI startups, across more industries, and in more countries.”
Q4 Revenue Forecast Is Above Analysts’ Expectations
2 hr 55 min ago
Nvidia expects fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $65 billion, give or take 2%.
That’s above Wall Street’s consensus projection of $62.38 billion, according to Visible Alpha data.
The company also directed investors toward fiscal Q4 GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins of 74.8% and 75%, give or take 50 basis points, respectively.
Nvidia’s Profitability Rises From Q2
3 hours ago
Nvidia reported GAAP fiscal third-quarter gross margins, a closely watched profitability measure, of 73.4%, up from 72.4% in the second quarter.
The latest figure marked a decline from a year earlier, when it landed at 74.6%.
Non-GAAP gross margins followed a similar pattern, rising quarter-on-quarter but slipping year-on-year.
Results Beat Expectations on Top and Bottom Lines
3 hr 1 min ago
The AI chipmaker posted adjusted earnings of $1.30 per share, compared to the $1.26 that analysts had expected.
Revenue soared 62% year-over-year to a record $57 billion in the third quarter. That compared with Street expectations for revenue of $55.4 billion, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.
Nvidia’s data center sales climbed to a quarterly record of $51.2 billion, up 66% from a year ago, and above the analyst consensus as many of Nvidia’s Big Tech clients continue to ramp up spending on AI infrastructure.
Meta (META), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL)—all of which are buyers of Nvidia’s chips—have reinforced commitments to spend big on AI infrastructure in recent earnings calls.
Last month, Amazon raised its full-year forecast for capital expenditures and said it expects investments will increase next year. Alphabet also hiked its capex, while Meta lifted the lower end of its capex guidance.
Investors Looking For More Details On ‘Circular’ Deals
3 hr 17 min ago
One of the major factors contributing to worries about the sustainability of the AI trade has been the flurry of dealmaking between major tech companies.
On Tuesday, Nvidia and Microsoft (MSFT) on Tuesday announced a partnership with private AI startup Anthropic that will see the latter buy $30 billion of cloud computing capacity from Microsoft and contract up to 1 gigawatt of additional capacity. The first gigawatt of Anthropic’s commitment will run on Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems. In exchange, Nvidia and Microsoft have agreed to invest up to $10 billion and $5 billion, respectively, in Anthropic.
The deal expands a web of entanglements between AI software makers, chip companies and cloud operators that has elicited suspicion on Wall Street. Nvidia has agreed to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, which vowed to buy or lease 10 gigawatts worth of Nvidia chips. OpenAI has also committed to acquiring 6 GW of chips from Nvidia competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which, as part of the deal, awarded OpenAI stock warrants that could give the ChatGPT maker a nearly 10% stake. Nvidia upped its investment in CoreWeave (CRWV) when the cloud computing provider went public in March, and, in September, agreed to buy all of CoreWeave’s excess cloud capacity until 2032.
These and other agreements have raised concerns that the AI craze on Wall Street is being fueled by splashy deals that overstate the size of the industry and demand for its services.
Win McNamee / Getty Images
Ben Reitzes, head of Tech Research at Melius Research, says that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will need to explain more about these deals during the after-earnings conference call this evening.
“I think people are really gonna need Jensen to explain this circular deal mentality, because i don’t think it’s stopping anytime soon,” Reitzes said during an interview on CNBC Wednesday.
Reitzes said investors will want to hear more from Huang on his methodology, the kinds of return on investment Nvidia expects and what he sees in AI usage that gives him confidence investments are good ones.
Do Nvidia Earnings Have You Worried? You’re Not Alone
3 hr 48 min ago
As Nvidia earnings approach, anxiety has been running high.
The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), known as Wall Street’s Fear Index, on Tuesday ended the day just below 25, near its highest level since May, when the market was cooling off from April’s tariff tantrum. The index has risen substantially in the past week after coasting along in the mid-teens throughout the second half of the year. (It was recently at around 23; a reading below 20 is generally considered calm.)
And CNN’s Fear & Greed Index, which tracks seven stock-market metrics to gauge the mood on Wall Street, yesterday fell to its lowest level since mid-April. Six of the seven index inputs were flashing “Extreme Fear” on Wednesday morning, with measures of momentum and market breadth having slumped in recent weeks.
Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images
Recent anxiety has centered on AI, with some investors worrying that tech giants are overspending on technology with uncertain commercial prospects. Others argue AI will transform nearly every industry, justifying tech’s massive investments and high stock valuations.
The AI bubble debate has been playing out for some time, but it intensified this month. Forty-five percent of fund managers surveyed by Bank of America in November said an AI bubble was the biggest tail risk facing the market, up from 33% last month and just over 10% in September. More than half of those surveyed said AI was already in a bubble.
And bullish sentiment among retail investors last week fell to its lowest level since early September, according to the Association of American Individual Investors. Bearish sentiment jumped nearly 13 percentage points, the biggest week-over-week increase since February.
The stock market faces a critical test this afternoon when Nvidia (NVDA) reports earnings. The AI chip giant’s quarterly report has become a must-watch event on Wall Street this year, with its results often treated as a proxy for AI demand and a major driver of the AI rally.
AI bubble concerns and some high-profile divestments have dragged down Nvidia’s stock this month, but expectations are still high. Analysts predict the huge amounts of capital tech companies are pouring into data centers will underpin another strong quarter for the chipmaker.
Why Nvidia Earnings Matter So Much
4 hr 8 min ago
A lot is at stake when the world’s most valuable public company reports earnings.
Nvidia’s latest quarterly financial update is being widely viewed as the biggest event of this earnings season. It could have wide-reaching implications for the AI trade and the broader stock market.
A strong showing from the chipmaker, which is viewed as an AI bellwether, could prove just what the market needs to revive confidence in the AI rally that boosted shares of Nvidia, its partners, and stocks across industries this year, pushing the major indexes to a series of record highs.
However, with expectations riding high and signs investors may be more difficult to impress amid persistent worries that elevated stock valuations have created an AI bubble, the stock could be primed for punishment if Nvidia’s results are anything less than stellar.
With the chipmaker facing a particularly challenging setup heading into Wednesday’s event, some investors are already bracing for enhanced volatility in its wake. Options pricing suggests traders see shares swinging roughly 7% in either direction by the end of the week.
Nvidia’s outsized influence on major indexes—with a market capitalization of around $4.5 trillion as of Wednesday afternoon, the stock accounts for about 8% of the S&P 500—also means a big move in its stock would impact the market broadly. And if Nvidia’s shares soar or slump, those of its partners and others related to AI likely will too.
Even if you don’t hold Nvidia stock directly, a big share price move could affect you if you hold money in broad market index funds through brokerage accounts or tax-advantaged retirement accounts such as a 401(k) or IRA. Options pricing indicates traders expect the S&P 500 could move close to 2% in either direction by the end of the week, affecting a wide swath of investors and savers.
In recent quarters, the AI chipmaker’s quarterly report has tended to be a sell-the-news event, with the stock finishing the week of its earning lower than its levels heading into the event in three of the last four quarters, despite strong results. However, Nvidia’s stock has typically picked up in the months that followed.
Most Wall Street analysts believe the stock has room to rise.