Nvidia reports fiscal second-quarter results Wednesday after the bell, with analysts expecting revenue to almost double year over year. Investors are watching non-hyperscaler demand, soaring memory costs and the ramp of the new Vera Rubin systems for signs of whether the AI trade still has room to run.
Wall Street eyes another quarter of massive growth
Analysts polled by LSEG expect Nvidia to report $92.17 billion in revenue and $2.10 in earnings per share for the fiscal second quarter, which would put sales almost double the $46.7 billion posted a year earlier. Nvidia's chips remain central to building and serving the most advanced AI models, and the company has increasingly backstopped financing for new AI data centers.
Yet the stock has cooled after three years of historic gains. Shares were up just 14% as of Tuesday's close, only slightly ahead of the Nasdaq. Competition from Advanced Micro Devices and Google looms, and a worldwide memory shortage shows no signs of easing.
For the third quarter, analysts expect Nvidia to guide toward $104.2 billion in revenue, an 83% jump from $57 billion a year earlier, with the highest analyst estimate reaching $112.2 billion. Hyperscalers accounted for half of last quarter's sales, and investors will watch whether the rest of Nvidia's customer base grows faster than that handful of hyperscaler buyers. CEO Jensen Huang put that broader customer base at roughly 250,000 companies on the May earnings call.
Memory shortage pressures margins
Nvidia is expected to report a 75% gross margin, matching the first quarter, even as it builds inventory ahead of the wide release of its Vera Rubin AI systems. Server DRAM prices rose 64% in the second half of last year, and Trendforce expects a further 260% jump in 2026.
The company said higher device prices already hurt demand for some consumer GPUs last quarter, and it spent $145 billion in the first quarter to secure the parts it needs. According to CNBC, CFO Colette Kress said the company remains confident in its growth opportunity despite the supply strain: "we are not immune to supply challenges".
Vera Rubin ramp and financing questions in focus
Nvidia's new Vera Rubin systems have started shipping to customers including Microsoft and OpenAI, and investors want detail on how sales are ramping and whether supply issues have emerged. Earlier this year, Huang told GTC attendees he expects $1 trillion in combined Blackwell and Vera Rubin sales through 2027.
The company will also likely field questions on its financing role in the AI buildout after six financial firms pledged up to $500 billion toward chip-backed investment. On Monday, Morgan Stanley initiated credit coverage of Nvidia, noting the long-term risk in that strategy remains hard to quantify.
Source: US Top News and Analysis
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