S Poddar
Nvidia will report its latest earnings on Wednesday, a closely watched financial update that will provide investors with a better sense of how the AI chip giant is faring against nascent competition. The company recently experienced tremendous market volatility, much of it triggered by the emergence of China’s DeepSeek AI model, which left Nvidia with the largest single-day market value loss in stock market history last month.
The quarterly earnings report due soon will report on Nvidia’s results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, which concluded last month. Based on analysts’ estimates, the company is anticipated to report record figures, with revenue estimated at $38.1 billion and adjusted earnings per share at $0.85, equivalent to a net income of $19.6 billion. If these projections materialize, Nvidia would again post record highs in its financial performance, though its growth rates are now starting to level off.
Even with the expected 72% revenue surge from last year, this would be Nvidia’s slowest growth since April of 2023. Likewise, the firm’s expected 64% increase in profits—though healthy—is an indication that the breakneck speed it has sustained over the past few years is levelling out. The sales that were expected from its data center division, which lies at the center of Nvidia’s leadership in the technology associated with AI, have been forecast at $33.5 billion. That was up 82% from the earlier year but continues to be the slowest clip in close to two years.
Despite this slowdown, Nvidia’s growth is unmatched compared to other technology titans. Apple, the sole company presently more valuable than Nvidia, just announced a paltry 4% revenue gain and a 10% profit boost—numbers dwarfed by Nvidia’s meteoric rise.
Nvidia’s Market Performance and Investor Sentiment
In anticipation of its earnings announcement, Nvidia’s stock saw significant volatility. On Wednesday morning, shares rose 3% to around $131. But earlier this week, the stock experienced back-to-back drops of around 3% on Monday and Tuesday. The firm’s $3.2 trillion market value suffered as wider market worries, driven by investor skepticism about President Donald Trump’s economic agenda, caused tech stocks to pull back. The Nasdaq, for example, experienced a more than 1% decline on both days, its lowest closing level since November.
Even prior to this week’s losses, Nvidia’s stock had been riding out a bumpy stretch. The stock is now around 12% off its level prior to its previous earnings report in November, even with Wednesday morning’s advance. During the last month, the DeepSeek-related selloff has resulted in Nvidia’s stock price falling by nearly 10%, as investors fret about the chance that less hardware-intensive AI models may cut into Nvidia’s stronghold and decrease demand for its pricey semiconductor technology.
Experts’ Views of Nvidia’s Prospects
While the recent turmoil, the views of market professionals are still decidedly bullish on Nvidia’s long-term prospects. Out of the 68 analysts monitored by FactSet, the median price target for Nvidia is $175, representing a possible 38% rise from Tuesday’s close. There are some analysts who think that Wednesday’s call could be the turning point in investor sentiment.
Bank of America analysts Vivek Arya and his team are especially optimistic about Nvidia, with a price target of $190. Arya and his team indicate that competition fears in AI might be exaggerated and Nvidia’s dominance in the market is unbroken.
The Bigger Picture: Nvidia’s Role in the AI Boom
Nvidia is now synonymous with the AI revolution and is the largest provider of the GPUs, which are extremely powerful, that are used to train state-of-the-art language models. The firm will dominate roughly 95% of the global GPU market in 2025, Morgan Stanley estimates. This dominance has propelled Nvidia to meteoric status as the highest-performing S&P 500 stock in 2023 and 2024. The previous half-year period was not quite as kind, though. Nvidia’s stock only gained 3.7% during this timeframe, lagging the general S&P 500, which also increased 6.7% over the same time.
CEO Jensen Huang, co-founder of the world’s richest person, has attempted to play down fears surrounding possible slowdowns in AI spending. Last week, in remarks, Huang put paid to market concerns by saying that the perception of AI investment slowing down is “the complete opposite” of what actually exists.
With Nvidia set to release its most recent financial figures, investors will be keenly observing if the company can keep its run going in the face of expanding competition. The report will not only give investors a window into Nvidia’s financial health but also act as a bellwether for the rest of the AI-powered tech sector.
