Nvidia Q1 profit up 600%, revenue triples; 10:1 stock split announced: Key highlights

Nvidia Corp, a pioneer in the manufacturing of artificial intelligence (AI) chips, on Wednesday posted an over 600% year-on-year jump in profit in the first quarter of this calendar year. The company’s revenue tripled in the same period, surpassing analysts’ expectations.

The strong Q1 results led to a rally in Nvidia’s shares in the extended trading session, with the scrip crossing $1,000 for the first time. At 19:59 hours GMT, the shares were valued at $1,007 apiece on Nasdaq, up 6.06% as against the previous day’s close.

The AI chipmaker, whose stock has nearly doubled in 2024 so far, announced a 10:1 stock split. The move is aimed at making the share ownership more accessible to employees and investors.

Each existing shareholder as of the close of market on Thursday, June 6, 2024, will receive nine additional shares of common stock, to be distributed after the close of market on Friday, June 7, according to the company.

Trading is expected to commence on a split-adjusted basis on Monday, June 10.

Here are the key highlights of Nvidia’s Q1 results:

The California-based tech major posted a profit or net income of $14.88 billion in the quarter ended April 28, as compared to $2.04 billion in the year-ago period. The adjusted earnings per share came in at $6.12, surpassing the LSEG estimate of $5.59.

Nvidia’s revenue came in at $26.04 billion, more than three times as against $7.19 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2023. The revenue clocked during the quarter under review has surpassed the estimate of $$24.65 billion, as shared by LSEG.

The strong earnings scorecard comes at a time when Big Tech firms including Apple, Google and Meta have increased their order of Nvidia chips, as they focus on leveraging the AI boom.

The company said that it was also increasing its quarterly cash dividend by 150% from $0.04 per share to $0.10 per share of common stock. The increased dividend will be paid on Friday, June 28, to all shareholders of record on June 11.

In the second quarter, Nvidia expects a revenue of $28 billion. The company’s CEO Jensen Huang said AI will impact every sector of the economy, and will usher into the next industrial revolution.

“The next industrial revolution has begun — companies and countries are partnering with Nvidia to shift the trillion-dollar traditional data centers to accelerated computing and build a new type of data center — AI factories — to produce a new commodity: artificial intelligence," Huang said.

The solid Q1 show pushed Nvidia’s stock in the extended trading session, taking the company’s market capitalisation value to $2.34 trillion. This is the third highest m-cap among the listed entities in the US market, with only Google and Apple being ahead of the company.