Artificial-intelligence (AI) and visual-computing semiconductor company NVIDIA (NVDA -1.99%) reported stellar fiscal first-quarter results on Wednesday. Quarterly revenue and earnings for the period soared past analysts' estimates, highlighting the company's momentum during a period in which demand for gaming processors has largely outpaced supply.
The quarter was quite remarkable -- and worth a closer look. Here are five must-see metrics from the quarter.
NVIDIA Grace CPU. Image source: NVIDIA.
1. Revenue soared 84%
NVIDIA's revenue grew 84% year over year and 13% sequentially to a record $5.66 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting revenue of $5.41 billion.
"We had a fantastic quarter, with strong demand for our products driving record revenue," said NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings release.
2. Earnings per share skyrocketed 106%
The company's earnings per share more than doubled, rising from $1.47 in the year-ago quarter to $3.03. The metric was also impressively up 31% sequentially.
On a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis, earnings per share rose 103% year over year, from $1.80 to $3.66.
3. Gaming revenue rose 106%
Gaming revenue was one of the biggest drivers of the quarter, more than doubling year over year and hitting $2.76 billion.
In NVIDIA's first-quarter earnings call, management said it believed that gaming "benefited from crypto mining demand, although it's hard to determine to what extent." Demand is so robust that the company expects some gaming inventories to be supply constrained into the second half of the year.
4. Data center revenue topped $2 billion for the first time
NVIDIA's data center revenue rose 79% year over year and 8% sequentially to $2.05 billion.
"Our Data Center business continues to expand, as the world's industries take up NVIDIA AI to process computer vision, conversational AI, natural language understanding and recommender systems," Huang said.
5. Big guidance
NVIDIA expects its rapid growth to persist in fiscal Q2. Management guided for revenue to rise to about $6.3 billion -- an 11% sequential increase. Analysts, on average, were expecting revenue in the period to be $5.5 billion.
Overall, the impressive performance from the quarter helped justify the growth stock's recent surge higher. Shares are up more than 19% year to date -- and they rose 14% over the past three months.
Following an incredible quarter like this and given management's robust guidance, investors should think twice before they consider doing some profit-taking on NVIDIA shares. This company's growth story appears to be far from over.
