Nvidia posts record quarter as investors weigh AI-driven results
nvidia reported record fourth-quarter revenue and lifted full-year fiscal 2026 totals, a set of results that moved markets and sent futures lower late Wednesday as investors digested the implications for the AI trade.
Quarterly headline numbers: $68. 1 billion for the period ended January 25, 2026
revenue for the fourth quarter ended January 25, 2026, was $68. 1 billion, up 20% from the prior quarter and up 73% from a year earlier. For the quarter, GAAP gross margin was 75. 0% and non-GAAP gross margin was 75. 2%. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1. 76 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1. 62.
Fiscal 2026 totals and earnings per share
For fiscal 2026, revenue was $215. 9 billion, up 65% from a year ago. GAAP gross margin for the fiscal year was 71. 1% and non-GAAP gross margin was 71. 3%. GAAP earnings per diluted share for fiscal 2026 were $4. 90 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $4. 77.
Shareholder returns, dividend and repurchase authorization
During fiscal 2026, the company returned $41. 1 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and cash dividends. As of the end of the fourth quarter, the company had $58. 5 billion remaining under its share repurchase authorization. NVIDIA will pay the next quarterly cash dividend of $0. 01 per share on April 1, 2026, to all shareholders of record on March 11, 2026.
CEO Jensen Huang on agentic AI, Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, said the agentic AI inflection point has arrived and that computing demand is growing exponentially. He named Grace Blackwell with NVLink as “the king of inference today — delivering an order-of-magnitude lower cost per token, ” and said Vera Rubin will extend that leadership further. He added that enterprise adoption of agents is skyrocketing and that customers are racing to invest in AI compute, which he described as “the factories powering the AI industrial revolution and their future growth. ”
Nvidia’s disclosure on accounting changes, CFO commentary and non-GAAP measures
Beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, NVIDIA will include stock-based compensation expense in non-GAAP financial measures; stock-based compensation is a foundational component of its compensation program to attract and retain world-class talent. NVIDIA said its outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 is as follows: unclear in the provided context. For the full year fiscal 2027, GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates are expected to be between 17. 0% and 19. 0%, excluding any discrete items and material changes to NVIDIA’s tax environment. Commentary on the quarter by Colette Kress, NVIDIA’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, is available from the company. it uses non-GAAP measures to supplement GAAP results and that reconciliations for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 adjust related GAAP financial measures to exclude stock-based compensation expense and acquisition-related and other costs; the remainder of that reconciliation language is unclear in the provided context.
Market reaction, futures and wider trading moves
US stock futures crept below the baseline late Wednesday as Wall Street parsed Nvidia’s fresh quarterly results. Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0. 1%, while futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both fell around 0. 3%. Earlier in the regular session the S&P 500 advanced, marking its second straight gain, and the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average both finished the day in the green.
In extended trading, nvidia shares jumped before giving up those gains. The company topped Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter profit and revenue, a result described as easing some fears around the so-called “AI scare trade. ” By contrast, Salesforce sank roughly 5%, continuing an AI-driven sell-off that has left the company down around 28% year-to-date. Technology and software stocks led the daytime rebound, with Oracle and all members of the “Magnificent Seven” notching gains. Those moves came despite President Trump saying during his State of the Union address that he expects Big Tech to shoulder an ever-increasing electricity bill from data centers.
Investor calendar, conference call and upcoming earnings to watch
Investors were also set to parse weekly jobless claims data due Thursday, followed by January’s producer price index report on Friday. Wall Street also had quarterly results on the schedule: Warner Bros. Discovery, Dell Technologies and CoreWeave were all slated to report Thursday. NVIDIA said it will conduct a conference call with analysts and investors to discuss its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 financial results and current financial prospects today at 2 p. m. Pacific time (5 p. m. Eastern time). A live webcast of the call will be accessible on the company’s investor relations site and will be recorded and available for replay until the company’s conference call to discuss its first-quarter fiscal 2027 results.
