Nvidia Corp. shares declined in the extended session Thursday after the graphics-chip maker’s revenue outlook was hit by a sudden decline in cryptocurrency-mining sales.
Nvidia NVDA, -0.63% shares initially fell more than 5% in after-hours trading and were last down 4.3% in the extended session. Shares logged a 0.6% decline to close the regular session at $257.44. Nvidia shares are up 33% for the year, compared with a 6.3% rise on the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.79% , a 13.1% rise in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.42% and a 6.4% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, -0.13%
Nvidia reported that sales related to mining of cryptocurrencies such as ether ETHUSD, +0.28% were much lower than expected in the second quarter, and it is not counting on any sales related to blockchain the rest of the year.
“Our revenue outlook had anticipated cryptocurrency-specific products declining to approximately $100 million, while actual crypto-specific product revenue was $18 million,” said Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress in a statement. “Whereas we had previously anticipated cryptocurrency to be meaningful for the year, we are now projecting no contributions going forward.”
For the third quarter, Nvidia estimated revenue of $3.19 billion to $3.32 billion, lower than analysts’ average expectations of $3.34 billion, according to FactSet.
Nvidia’s second-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates in nearly every sales category, but the smallest segment appeared to draw much attention. The big surprise came in PC and mobile OEM revenue for the quarter, in which cryptocurrency-related sales are included. Those sales fell 54% to $116 million from a year ago, while analysts had forecast $185.2 million.
Nvidia reported a 52% surge in gaming revenue to $1.81 billion from a year ago, while analysts on average projected $1.75 billion, according to FactSet. Data center revenue jumped 83% to $760 million, while analysts were expecting $740.1 million. Visualization revenue rose 20% to $281 million, and the Street forecast $255.4 million. Auto-related revenue rose 13% to $161 million, and analysts expected $147.9 million.
The company reported second-quarter net income of $1.1 billion, or $1.76 a share, compared with $583 million, or 92 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were $1.94 a share.
Of the 25 analysts surveyed by FactSet, Nvidia on average was expected to post GAAP earnings of $1.67 a share. On an adjusted basis after accounting for stock-based compensation, analysts on average expected earnings of $1.85 a share, according to FactSet. Revenue rose to $3.12 billion from $2.23 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by FactSet had estimated $1.85 a share on revenue of $3.1 billion.
Wall Street expected revenue of $3.1 billion from Nvidia, according to 31 analysts polled by FactSet. Nvidia predicted revenue of $3.04 billion to $3.16 billion.
The drop follows Nvidia’s announcement late Monday of the release of its long-awaited upgrade of its Pascal chip architecture, Turing, which many had expected to be announced after earnings at the Gamescom 2018 expo in Germany.
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Of the 39 analysts who cover Nvidia, 24 have buy or overweight ratings, 14 have hold ratings and one has a sell rating, with an average price target of $281.05, or 9% above Thursday’s close.
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