Nvidia Stock Soars After Record-Shattering Earnings Report—Should You Buy Now?

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) delivered another blockbuster quarter on Wednesday, extending its dominant run in the artificial-intelligence chip market and lifting its stock in after-hours trading. Quarterly highlights • Revenue: $44.1 billion for fiscal Q1 2026, up 12% from the prior quarter and 69% year-over-year, a new company record. • Adjusted EPS: $0.81, topping consensus estimates of about $0.75. • Gross margin: 78.1%, expanding 230 basis points YoY. • Buybacks: $7.0 billion in share repurchases during the quarter, with $19 billion remaining on the authorization. What drove the beat? Data-center revenue surged 73% YoY to $35.0 billion as hyperscalers, cloud providers and enterprise customers raced to deploy Nvidia’s H100 and newly announced Blackwell GPUs for generative-AI workloads. Gaming chip sales rebounded 18% YoY to $3.6 billion thanks to stronger demand for RTX 40-series cards. Guidance and outlook Management guided for fiscal Q2 revenue of $45 billion ± 2%, implying 12% sequential growth and underscoring sustained AI demand despite lingering U.S. export restrictions to China. CFO Colette Kress warned of an expected $8 billion charge in Q2 tied to H20 chip licensing requirements but said the core data-center business “remains on fire.” Wall Street reaction NVDA shares rose roughly 3% to $138 in extended trading after the report, adding to their 72% year-to-date gain as of the close on May 28. Analysts at Morgan Stanley reiterated their $160 price target, citing “unmatched” AI positioning, while some warned that valuation already bakes in flawless execution. What it means for investors • Market leadership: Nvidia still controls an estimated 80% of the AI accelerator market, and the Q1 print suggests share is holding despite new competition from AMD, Intel and custom ASICs. • Margin resilience: Expanding gross margins point to healthy pricing power as supply catches up to demand. • Volatility risk: Export controls, a potential slowdown in cloud capex and concentration of revenue in a few hyperscale customers remain key watch-points. Bottom line The latest Nvidia earnings report reinforces the chipmaker’s status as the prime beneficiary of the AI arms race. For long-term investors seeking exposure to generative-AI infrastructure, NVDA’s first-quarter results show that the growth story is far from over—but at 43× forward earnings, the stock leaves little room for missteps.