Nvidia Earnings Signal Market Momentum: Record Q4 Revenue, Data-Center Surge and $41B Returned to Shareholders

Why this matters now: nvidia earnings are reshaping investor expectations and the market’s view of AI infrastructure as an enduring revenue engine. The company posted record quarterly and annual numbers that shift the conversation from speculation about an AI bubble to concrete data-center growth, large shareholder returns and a set of corporate moves that will affect tax guidance, accounting and capital allocation.

Market momentum and performance indicators

Record figures and sizable capital returns are the clearest market signals. For the fourth quarter ended January 25, 2026, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) reported revenue of $68. 1 billion, up 20% from the previous quarter and up 73% year-over-year. For fiscal 2026, revenue reached $215. 9 billion, up 65% from a year earlier. During fiscal 2026 NVIDIA returned $41. 1 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and cash dividends, and had $58. 5 billion remaining under its share repurchase authorization at the end of the fourth quarter.

Nvidia Earnings: financial highlights and margins

The company posted very high margins and strong per-share metrics. For the quarter, GAAP gross margin was 75. 0% and non-GAAP gross margin was 75. 2%. For fiscal 2026, GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins were 71. 1% and 71. 3%, respectively. Quarterly GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1. 76 and $1. 62; for fiscal 2026 GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $4. 90 and $4. 77.

Revenue mix, data-center boom and other performance figures

The data-center business was singled out as the dominant revenue driver. Another report of the quarter lists overall revenue at $68. 13 billion for the period, and shows data-center revenue growing 75% year-over-year to $62. 3 billion. The company was described as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company and as having become a dominant supplier in the chip market as its processors underpin the AI boom. An annual profit figure cited for the fiscal year was $120 billion.

Investor reaction was mixed but sizable: shares rose about 3% in after-hours trading immediately following the earnings release, with gains later trimming to under 1% as the day progressed. The company’s quarterly results have surpassed Wall Street expectations repeatedly—stated as beating every quarter during the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years and extending a yearslong streak of outperformance.

Capital return, corporate actions and accounting changes

Practical shifts matter for shareholders and comp plans. The firm announced a next quarterly cash dividend of $0. 01 per share payable on April 1, 2026, to shareholders of record on March 11, 2026. Beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, stock-based compensation expense will be included in non-GAAP financial measures; the company described stock-based compensation as a foundational component of its compensation program to attract and retain world-class talent. For the full year fiscal 2027, GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates are expected to be between 17. 0% and 19. 0%, excluding discrete items and material tax-environment changes.

Corporate commentary, partnerships and scrutiny

Executive commentary emphasized accelerating enterprise AI adoption and new platform technology. The CEO framed the business as benefiting from an ‘agentic AI inflection point, ’ credited Grace Blackwell with NVLink as a leader in inference that lowers cost per token by an order of magnitude, and said Vera Rubin will extend that leadership. He characterized enterprise adoption of agents as skyrocketing and said customers are racing to invest in AI compute as the factories of the AI industrial revolution. He also framed AI as a job creator and said that in the new world of AI, compute equals revenues.

At the same time, the company’s multibillion-dollar commercial relationships with AI firms have drawn scrutiny. The circular nature of some deals prompted concerns that parts of the AI industry sit on risky footing. A proposed $100 billion investment into one partner fell through earlier this month; the plan described instead involves a $30 billion investment as that partner seeks a public listing later this year at a valuation of roughly $730 billion. it continues to work toward a partnership agreement and believes it is close.

What’s easy to miss is that the firm also pointed investors to further commentary by its CFO, Colette Kress, and scheduled a live conference call today at 2 p. m. Pacific time (5 p. m. Eastern time) with a listen-only webcast that will be recorded and available for replay until the company’s first-quarter fiscal 2027 results call.

Here’s the part that matters for readers tracking signals:

• Q4 revenue figures appear in two close variants in the disclosures: $68. 1 billion (quarter ended January 25, 2026) and $68. 13 billion in another summary.
• Data-center revenue shown at $62. 3 billion, up 75% year-over-year, is the main driver of the quarter.
• Quarterly EPS noted as $1. 76 (GAAP) and $1. 62 (non-GAAP); an analyst-estimate comparison listed $1. 53 as the prior estimate.
• Fiscal 2026 revenue totaled $215. 9 billion; a fiscal-year profit figure of $120 billion was also cited.

Micro-timeline: quarter ended January 25, 2026; dividend record date March 11, 2026 with payment April 1, 2026; beginning Q1 fiscal 2027 the company will include stock-based compensation in non-GAAP measures. The reconciliations for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 were said to adjust GAAP measures to exclude stock-based compensation expense, acquisition-related and other costs, and other gains/losses — the text in the provided context is truncated and unclear in the provided context.

The real question now is whether this level of data-center demand and the large capital returns will sustain forward momentum amid heightened scrutiny of partner deals and shifting investor sentiment.