Nvidia heads into earnings as its star chip continues to glitch

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It’s a high-stakes day for tech stocks as the grand finale to earnings season looms: Nvidia’s third quarter report, set to drop today after the bell.

As the world’s largest public company by market cap, Nvidia has been the definitive winner of the AI boom. Shares are up almost 200% year to date and 1,000% since September 2022.

Analysts are expecting big things from Nvidia tonight. Wall Street has consistently upped its predictions for the report, increasing earnings per share estimates to $2.84 (from $2.81 in September). Earnings per share from the second quarter came in at $2.70, a 148% increase year over year.

Revenue estimates for the third quarter come in at $33 billion, which would be an 83% increase from the prior year. Second quarter earnings showed revenue was $30 billion.

Investors are going to be looking for signs that Nvidia’s Blackwell GPU, a high-performance chip expected to drive the next AI wave, is in high demand and functioning well. Tonight’s call comes as reports of Blackwell GPUs overheating continue to swirl. Nvidia has invested more than $2 billion in developing Blackwell, so shareholders (and the broader market) are going to want to see signs that these issues are being worked out.

Check back tomorrow for a full recap of Nvidia’s Q3 earnings and what will no doubt be some interesting market moves to follow.

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