Nvda: nvda posts record revenue and market reaction
nvda reported record fourth-quarter revenue and strong fiscal 2026 results, but the stock stumbled even after guidance that topped consensus by roughly $6 billion. Executives laid out financial details, a dividend and a buyback picture as analysts and investors parsed margins and future catalysts.
Nvda revenue and margins
NVIDIA reported record revenue for the fourth quarter ended January 25, 2026, of $68. 1 billion, up 20% from the previous quarter and up 73% from a year ago. For fiscal 2026, revenue was $215. 9 billion, up 65% from a year ago. For the quarter, GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins were 75. 0% and 75. 2%, respectively. For fiscal 2026, GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins were 71. 1% and 71. 3%, respectively. For the quarter, GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1. 76 and $1. 62, respectively. For fiscal 2026, GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $4. 90 and $4. 77, respectively.
Shareholder returns and dividend
During fiscal 2026, NVIDIA returned $41. 1 billion to shareholders in the form of shares repurchased 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 its next quarterly cash dividend of $0. 01 per share on April 1, 2026, to all shareholders of record on March 11, 2026.
Guidance, tax outlook and accounting changes
NVIDIA guided the current quarter roughly $6 billion above consensus estimates. 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. 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. The company stated an outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 but the specific quarterly outlook detail is unclear in the provided context.
Conference call and CFO commentary
NVIDIA 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 in listen-only mode will be accessible on the company’s investor relations website; the webcast will be recorded and available for replay until NVIDIA’s conference call to discuss its financial results for its first quarter of fiscal 2027. Commentary on the quarter by Colette Kress, NVIDIA’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, is available on the investor relations site.
CEO remarks on AI and product names
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, said computing demand is growing exponentially and "the agentic AI inflection point has arrived. " 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. Huang added that enterprise adoption of agents is skyrocketing and customers are racing to invest in AI compute.
Market reaction and analyst debate
The stock was down in Thursday morning trading despite the roughly $6 billion revenue guide beat. On a market show discussion, Visible Alpha head of TMT research Melissa Otto and Laffer Tengler Investments CEO and CIO Nancy Tengler joined Opening Bid host Brian Sozzi to debate whether NVIDIA’s mid-70% gross margins and strong fundamentals were already priced in, and what it would take to spark a fresh catalyst.
Melissa Otto said she was surprised by the stock reaction and noted she could not recall seeing a company other than NVIDIA say its current quarter outlook was $6 billion ahead of consensus. She emphasized that the $6 billion figure is the scale of revenue some companies post in a year and questioned why the stock moved lower. Otto said the Q1 guide she referenced was 77 to 79 billion, with consensus at 72. 4, and that gross margin appearing to remain at a mid-70s level meant investors were not seeing fresh alpha in fundamentals.
Nancy Tengler pushed back, saying the situation felt like a past buying opportunity and noting that at certain earlier points NVIDIA could have been purchased at just over $100 a share. She cited 60-plus percent earnings growth and a price-to-earnings multiple she described as somewhere below 25 times next year’s earnings. Tengler said China has not yet played in, sovereign adoption is just getting started, and that the company posted 30 billion in sovereign revenues — a roughly threefold year-over-year increase. She added that hedge funds had been putting pressure on these names since the fall and expressed an expectation of a return to outperformance, noting that compute drives inference and revenues and that hyperscalers report insufficient capacity, which converts others’ CAPEX into NVIDIA revenue.
To supplement its GAAP statements, the company uses non-GAAP measures including non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP other income (expense), net, non-GAAP net income, or earnings, per diluted share, and free cash flow. The reconciliations for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 adjust GAAP measures to exclude stock-based compensation expense, acquisition-related and other costs, other, gains/losses fr — the text in the provided context ends mid-phrase and is unclear in the provided context.
nvda’s results and the split reaction underscore the divide between detailed financials and market expectations as investors weigh margins, buybacks, dividends and what might constitute a fresh catalyst.
