Investors told to watch Nvidia guidance

Nvidia’s scheduled May 20 earnings report has turned investor attention away from the quarter that just ended and toward what executives say comes next. The company said on April 29 that it will report first-quarter fiscal 2027 results on May 20 and provide written commentary from Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress before a conference call later that day. Nvidia’s last quarterly report, released on Feb. 25, showed revenue of $68.1 billion and data-center revenue of $62.3 billion. Those figures have left analysts and market commentators focused on whether the company can sustain that pace while navigating U.S. export controls and shifts in product mix. ### Why are investors fixated on guidance instead of the just-finished quarter? May 20 is the date Nvidia has set for its first-quarter fiscal 2027 results, and the company said the call will include prepared remarks and a question-and-answer session with analysts and institutional investors. That setup matters because Nvidia’s shares have often reacted more to the next quarter’s revenue and margin outlook than to the reported numbers themselves, given the market’s focus on AI spending and supply trends. (investor.nvidia.com) Feb. 25 is the company’s most recent official benchmark, and Nvidia reported fourth-quarter revenue of $68.1 billion, up 20% from the prior quarter, with non-GAAP gross margin of 75.2%. Data-center revenue reached $62.3 billion in that quarter, up 22% sequentially, leaving investors to judge whether management’s next forecast points to continued expansion from already elevated levels. (investor.nvidia.com) ### What does China have to do with this earnings call? April 15, 2025, remains the clearest marker for the China issue hanging over Nvidia’s results. The company said then it would take a quarterly charge of about $5.5 billion tied to H20 processors after the U.S. government required a license to export those chips to China and other destinations. Reuters reported the restrictions hit one of Nvidia’s most important China-focused AI products. (investor.nvidia.com) May 14 brought a fresh reminder that Nvidia’s position in China remains a live question. CNBC reported that Chinese companies including Tencent and Alibaba were discussing greater use of domestic chips, while Nvidia’s access to the market remained uncertain. CNBC also said Reuters had reported Nvidia had approval to ship H200 chips to some Chinese firms, underscoring how closely investors are parsing any sign of resumed sales or lasting displacement by local competitors. (investing.com) ### Why are gross margins getting so much attention? Feb. 25 showed Nvidia’s non-GAAP gross margin at 75.2%, up from 73.6% in the prior quarter reported on Nov. 19, 2025. That improvement gave investors a recent example of margin expansion as Blackwell products ramped and data-center sales grew. (cnbc.com) May 28, 2025, offers the cautionary comparison that many investors still use. Nvidia’s first-quarter fiscal 2026 results carried GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins of 60.5% and 61.0%, respectively, after charges tied to H20 products; excluding that charge, non-GAAP gross margin would have been 71.3%, the company said. That history has made investors sensitive to how management separates underlying product profitability from export-control-related charges and reserves. (investor.nvidia.com) ### Which business line will matter most in the forecast? Data center is the line item investors watch first because it dominates Nvidia’s revenue base. Feb. 25 results showed data-center revenue of $62.3 billion out of total quarterly revenue of $68.1 billion, and Nov. 19 results had shown $51.2 billion in data-center revenue. Those figures make the segment the clearest read-through on hyperscaler and enterprise AI spending. (investor.nvidia.com) Nov. 19 also included a comment from Chief Executive Jensen Huang that “Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out,” linking product demand to the company’s recent growth. Investors on May 20 will be listening for whether Nvidia repeats that tone, updates Blackwell supply conditions or gives more detail on how networking, inference demand and regional restrictions are shaping the next quarter. (investor.nvidia.com) ### What exactly happens on May 20? April 29 is when Nvidia said first-quarter fiscal 2027 results would be released at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific time on May 20, followed by a conference call at 2 p.m. Pacific time, or 5 p.m. Eastern. The company said Kress’s written commentary will be posted on investor.nvidia.com immediately after the results are announced, and the webcast will be available there as well. (investor.nvidia.com 1) (investor.nvidia.com 2)