Nvidia's Stock Shoots Higher After Profit And Sales Beat Expectations

Nvidia Corp.'s stock shot up 8.8% in after-hours trade Wednesday, after the graphics chip company beat fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales expectations, and provided an upbeat sales outlook. For the quarter ended Jan.31, earnings came to $207 million, or 35 cents a share, compared with $193 million, or 35 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as one-time restructuring charges, adjusted earnings per share were 52 cents, beating the FactSet consensus of 32 cents. Revenue climbed to $1.4 billion from $1.31 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.31 billion. For the current quarter, the company expects revenue of $1.26 billion, plus or minus 2% ($1.234 billion to $1.285 billion), compared with the FactSet consensus of $1.23 billion. "Nvidia is at the center of four exciting growth opportunities -- PC gaming, VR, deep learning, and self-driving cars," said Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang. "We are especially excited about deep learning, a breakthrough in artificial intelligence algorithms that takes advantage of our GPU's ability to process data simultaneously." The stock had run up 24% over the past three months through Wednesday's close, compared with an 8.3% decline in the S&P 500.