Buoyed by a jump in revenue, NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) managed a quarterly profit, but its shares fell 4% on weakness in its mobile business. The chip maker also said it expects third-quarter revenue to grow 4% to 6%.
Let's take a look at what lies in store for NVIDIA.
A look at the quarter
Revenue for the quarter jumped 25% to $1.02 billion from $811.20 million in the corresponding quarter a year ago, driven by strong sales of its notebook graphic chipsets. This places the company above its nearest rival, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), whose revenue declined by 5%. The company produced an operating income of $182 million as compared to the loss of $175 million incurred a year ago. NVIDIA witnessed stupendous growth in its market for notebook graphic processing units and now controls a market share of 50.6% in this segment.
Although the market for desktop chipsets experienced cyclical weaknesses, the notebook segment helped the company keep its head above water. NVIDIA is optimistic about consumers shifting toward portable computing, and it is focusing its energies toward this segment.
Winning designs
Smartphones are turning into "superphones" thanks to faster processors and graphics. NVIDIA seems to have just the right product for this platform. The company has seen some major design wins with Samsung, LG, and Motorola (NYSE: MMI) for its Tegra processors that are used in tablet PCs and smartphones.
Android revolution
Android-enabled phones currently make up 40% of the smartphone market share in the U.S., with shipments still on the rise. With unit sales of smartphones rising, it can be expected that the company will sell more of its chipsets to the manufacturers and generate more revenues in the future.
Furthermore, Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent announcement of acquiring Motorola bodes well for NVIDIA since the company supplies graphics processors to Motorola's devices. With the promise of a "supercharged" Android platform, one may expect this deal to give NVIDIA good mileage in selling its chips once the phones are rolled out.
The Foolish bottom line
NVIDIA has raised its outlook for the rest of the year and sees revenue above Street estimates in the third quarter. Given its recent run of positive results and growth in business, it makes for an interesting investment proposition. I see no reason to shy away from the company.
To stay on the trail of NVIDIA's developments, add it to My Watchlist.
