NVDA: Nvidia Earnings Arrive Wednesday. What Should You Look Out for in the Report?

Chip maker’s third-quarter earnings data will help investors assess whether the AI craze is justified or it’s mostly froth and dreams.

• Nvidia stock NVDA is getting ready to either wreck your portfolio or give it a nice pump. The chip making giant will report its third-quarter earnings update on Wednesday after the closing bell — and stakes couldn’t be higher. Nvidia’s financial results will give investors a glimpse into how much appetite there is by Big Tech for artificial intelligence infrastructure. And by current-guidance standards, demand should be bigger than ever.
• Nvidia is expected to pull in revenue of $33.2 billion, a record and a 10% increase from the previous quarter’s $30 billion. Earnings per share are projected to land at $0.74 a piece from $0.68 in the previous three months. The anticipated figures mark a huge year-over-year leap with revenue expected to grow 83% and earnings expected to grow 85%. Nvidia’s bread and butter, the data center segment, is set to churn out $29 billion, double the rate from a year ago.
• Shares of Nvidia have staged a breakneck rally this year, up nearly triple with just about 6% to cover so shares could hit 200% rise. But not without major obstacles along the way — Nvidia’s formidable market cap of $3.5 trillion could get rocked big, big time, at one point it lost close to $280 billion in the span of a single session. Beware of heightened volatility in the lead-up to Wednesday’s report and also in after-hours trading.