NVIDIA to Post Q2 Earnings: Buy, Hold, or Take Profits?

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA is all set to report its much-awaited fiscal 2026 second-quarter (ended July 30) earnings after the closing bell on Aug. 27. This announcement could be pivotal for NVIDIA, particularly following its recent agreement with the U.S. government to re-enter the Chinese market and amid record-high data center spending. Therefore, it is important to explore the strategic actions investors can consider before the upcoming earnings report. 

NVIDIA Gears Up for Explosive Q2 Results 

It’s been nearly three months since NVIDIA reported fiscal first-quarter results. Its revenues of $44.1 billion were up 69% year over year. A similar performance is expected in the fiscal second quarter as well, with revenues projected at $46.03 billion, up 53.2% year over year.  

Furthermore, NVIDIA’s earnings per share (EPS) are expected to come in at $1.00 compared to $0.68 in the same quarter a year ago, representing a 47.1% year-over-year increase. NVIDIA’s trailing four-quarter earnings surprise, on average, is a positive 3.9%, which suggests that the stock may deliver second-quarter growth.   

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Why NVIDIA Could Post Solid Q2 Results? 

NVIDIA’s new-generation Blackwell Ultra graphics processing units (GPUs) architecture is experiencing significant demand because it can execute artificial intelligence (AI) tasks 50 times quicker than the previous Hopper architecture. The shipping of these Blackwell Ultra GB300 GPUs started in large quantities during the latter half of the year. Since the fiscal second quarter includes July, there is a strong possibility that the sales of Blackwell Ultra GB300 GPU will enhance NVIDIA’s revenues and profits. 

In the fiscal first quarter, NVIDIA lost $2.5 billion in sales and incurred a $4.5 billion charge due to the U.S. government restrictions on selling its H20 chips to China. However, in April, the Trump administration permitted NVIDIA to export its H20 chips to China, stipulating that the company must share 15% of its revenues from the sales of this chip with the government. Now, with NVIDIA expected to sell chips worth $8 billion to China in the fiscal second quarter, there is a strong possibility that removing the export restrictions will assist the company in recovering some of the revenues lost in the previous quarter and enhance its performance in the reporting quarter. 

Buy, Hold, or Sell NVIDIA Stock Ahead of Q2 Earnings? 

With NVIDIA’s H20 chips heading to China, and the demand for Blackwell chips remaining strong, an upbeat fiscal second-quarter results are on the cards, typically driving its stock price higher. Additionally, the future looks promising for NVIDIA as the company is set to benefit from ongoing growth in data center capital expenditures (capex). Its GPUs, which power data centers, are in demand as customers plan to increase their capex to establish more AI data centers to meet rising computing capacity needs. 

Alphabet Inc. GOOGL and Meta Platforms, Inc. META have increased their 2025 data center capex forecast from $75 billion to $85 billion, and from $64 billion to $66 billion, respectively. Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN anticipates that its capex for data centers in 2025 will reach a record $118 billion, while Microsoft Corporation’s MSFT capex has already reached $88 billion for the fiscal year 2025, which concluded on June 30. 

Therefore, it’s prudent for NVIDIA stakeholders to retain their stock for potential long-term benefits. New investors should wait until NVIDIA’s fiscal second-quarter results either surpass or align with analysts’ forecasts for the stock to rise further.  

Given that NVIDIA’s top customers are boosting their capex in data centers, it’s unlikely that the fiscal second-quarter results will underperform expectations, presenting a timely opportunity for new investors to purchase the stock. 

For now, NVIDIA has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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