Nvidia earnings preview: $108bn expected in first report under interim CEO Kress
Nvidia reports its fiscal third-quarter earnings after the US close on Tuesday 17 November, and Wall Street expects revenue of about $108.7 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.47 a share, according to MarketBeat consensus data. That would be roughly 90% more revenue than the $57.0 billion Nvidia reported in the same quarter a year ago.
It will also be the first report under interim chief executive Colette Kress, who took over on Thursday after Jensen Huang resigned. For traders, that makes this one of the most closely watched Nvidia earnings releases in years, with the numbers and the tone of the call both under the spotlight.
When does Nvidia report earnings?
Nvidia will publish results at about 1:20 pm Pacific time on Tuesday 17 November, with its conference call at 2:00 pm Pacific (midnight in South Africa), “as previously scheduled”, the company said in its 8-K filing on the leadership change.
The same filing confirmed that Kress, who has been chief financial officer since 2013, will remain CFO while serving as interim CEO, and that the board will consider internal and external candidates for the permanent role. Harvey C. Jones became the company’s first-ever board chair. “The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team,” Jones said, adding that operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap should continue without interruption. Huang’s exit followed reports about his personal conduct.
The shares fell 4.34% on Thursday and another 2.01% on Friday, closing below a $4 trillion market value for the first time since July 2025, CNBC reported.
What are analysts expecting from Nvidia earnings?
The bar is set mostly by Nvidia itself. In August the company guided to third-quarter revenue of $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, with an adjusted gross margin of about 74%, and that outlook assumes no data-centre compute sales to China. Consensus of about $108.7 billion sits just above the midpoint, while Barchart’s tally puts adjusted earnings per share at $2.49.
Nvidia has a habit of clearing the bar. It beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters, Barchart noted. Last quarter it reported revenue of $96.22 billion against $92.17 billion expected, and adjusted EPS of $2.22 against $2.10, according to CNBC’s earnings coverage. Its guidance at the time was also well above the $104.2 billion analysts had pencilled in.
Before the leadership change, the analyst community was overwhelmingly positive: 48 of 52 analysts tracked by Barchart rated the stock a Strong Buy in late October. Since then, HSBC has cut Nvidia to Hold, Yahoo Finance reported, and several analysts told CNBC the CEO change could cost the company as much as 20% of its market value. Tuesday is the first hard data point to test those views.
How strong is Nvidia’s data centre demand?
Very strong, on the latest numbers. Data-centre revenue reached $89 billion last quarter, up 117% from a year earlier and 92% of total sales. In August Kress also told analysts she expected revenue growth of about 70% in fiscal 2028, far above the 44% analysts had expected at the time.
Demand for AI chips is still running ahead of the supply of key parts. “Memory scarcity today is being driven in large part by the AI buildout itself,” Kress said in August, when she warned that gross margin could dip to 71% to 72% in the fourth quarter, partly because of higher memory prices.
The wider industry backs up the demand picture. AMD guided to fourth-quarter revenue of about $17 billion on rising AI chip sales, as we cover in what’s next for AMD stock, and AI developers keep raising capital to spend on computing power, with Anthropic’s IPO due to price the day after Nvidia reports.
What will traders watch in Nvidia’s results?
The fiscal 2028 outlook. The single most important question is whether Kress repeats the 70% growth forecast she gave in August. A reaffirmation would go a long way to calming worries that the leadership change will affect customers.
Fourth-quarter guidance. Nvidia usually guides one quarter ahead. A number well above consensus has tended to drive the share reaction more than the quarter just finished.
Gross margin. Traders will check whether the expected dip to 71% to 72% is still the plan, or whether memory costs push it lower.
Customer and leadership commentary. Any update on the CEO search, and any sign that large customers are pausing or diversifying orders, will be closely read. So far there is no reported evidence of cancellations.
China. Guidance assumes no data-centre compute sales to China, so any change in export approvals would be upside that is not in the forecast.
Why do Nvidia earnings matter for the whole market?
Nvidia is one of the largest companies in the S&P 500, so its results move index funds, chip stocks and AI-linked names worldwide. The S&P 500 still managed its best week since August even as Nvidia fell, which suggests the broader market has absorbed the CEO news so far. Tuesday’s report will show whether that confidence holds. For more, see our stocks and S&P 500 coverage.
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This article is for education and information only and is not financial advice. Figures are as reported by the sources linked above.
