NVIDIA posts $81.6B quarter

Nvidia reported another quarter of extraordinary growth on May 20, but the details of the release show why investors still looked for more. Revenue rose 85% from a year earlier to $81.62 billion in the quarter ended April 26, while profit climbed to $58.32 billion, according to the company and the Associated Press. The company’s data center business, which sells the chips and systems used to train and run artificial intelligence models, generated $75.2 billion in revenue, up 92% from a year earlier. Shares fell 1.6% in extended trading even after Nvidia forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates and approved an additional $80 billion share repurchase authorization. ### Where did the growth come from? Nvidia’s data center segment supplied nearly all of the quarter’s expansion. The company said data center revenue reached $75.2 billion, compared with $39.1 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, as cloud providers and AI-focused infrastructure companies kept buying its chips and systems. CNBC reported that data center revenue nearly doubled, underscoring how concentrated Nvidia’s growth remains in AI computing. (money.usnews.com) The quarter covered the period ending April 26, 2026, and Nvidia said total revenue rose 20% from the prior quarter. The company’s results topped analyst expectations for roughly $78.9 billion in revenue, according to AP and Reuters summaries cited in search results. ### Why did the stock slip after numbers like these? (finance.yahoo.com) Reuters reported that Nvidia’s second-quarter revenue forecast was about $91 billion, plus or minus 2%, above LSEG estimates of $86.84 billion. Even so, the shares dipped in after-hours trading, a sign that investors were weighing whether the company can maintain its pace as competition broadens and expectations keep rising. Reuters cited eMarketer analyst Jacob Bourne as saying that repeated earnings beats are now largely expected and that investors want evidence the AI buildout can hold into 2027 and 2028. (finance.yahoo.com) CNBC also reported that the stock slid after the release despite what it described as a strong report. That reaction followed months in which Nvidia had become the market’s main gauge of spending on AI infrastructure. ### What did Jensen Huang say about demand? Jensen Huang told analysts that Nvidia should grow faster than hyperscale capital spending because a newer group of customers - AI-specific cloud companies - is expanding quickly. (money.usnews.com) Reuters reported that Huang said sales to those customers were roughly equal to sales to the largest cloud providers and were growing faster quarter over quarter. (cnbc.com) CNBC reported that Huang described demand tied to “agentic AI” as “parabolic.” That comment added to Nvidia’s argument that spending is moving beyond training large models and into broader deployment of AI systems. ### What did Nvidia do for shareholders? Nvidia said its board approved an additional $80 billion share repurchase authorization on May 18, bringing fresh firepower to buy back stock without an expiration date. (money.usnews.com) The company also raised its quarterly cash dividend to $0.25 per share from $0.01 per share, with payment scheduled for June 26 to shareholders of record on June 4. During the quarter, Nvidia returned about $20 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. (cnbc.com) ### What comes next in the story? The next immediate test is Nvidia’s second quarter. The company told investors it expects about $91 billion in revenue, plus or minus 2%, in the current quarter, and Reuters said that outlook came in above Wall Street estimates. Nvidia’s next scheduled shareholder cash event is the June 26 dividend payment, while investors will watch whether the company’s next report shows that demand from cloud providers and AI infrastructure customers is still accelerating. (nvidianews.nvidia.com) (money.usnews.com)