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Key Takeaways
- Nvidia shares slumped as much as 4.4% on Wednesday ahead of a quarterly earnings report that some have called the “most important tech earnings in years.”
- The chipmaker weighed on tech-sector peers, including the Magnificent Seven, all of which traded in the red Wednesday afternoon.
- Expectations are high for Nvidia, whose stock has soared after each of its earnings reports this year.
Tech stocks slumped on Wednesday ahead of a quarterly earnings report from Nvidia that some investors consider the biggest stock-market event of the year.
The Magnificent Seven stocks were all in the red Wednesday afternoon, led by Nvidia (NVDA), which was down 4.4% at one point but pared its losses by half as of 1:30 p.m. ET. Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Amazon (AMZN) declined more than 1%. Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL) and Meta (META) rounded out the group with declines of less than 1%.
Chip stocks were also lower, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index down about 2%, with giants Broadcom (AVGO) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) declining 1.8% and 2.3%, respectively.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the major indexes lower, falling more than 1%.
What Nvidia Earnings Could Mean for Markets
Nvidia will report fiscal 2025 second-quarter earnings after markets close on Wednesday, and expectations are high for what Wedbush Securities analysts recently called the “most important tech earnings in years.”
Analysts expect Nvidia to report that revenue and profit doubled last quarter from the prior-year period as tech companies ramped up their spending on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
The company’s stock soared in the weeks after its two most recent earnings reports, giving a boost to the stock market as a whole. Investors will be hoping that another blowout quarterly earnings report can work the same magic on Thursday and reignite the tech rally that has lifted stocks to a series of records this year.
Nvidia’s stock has faced some headwinds in recent months. Shares tumbled more than 25% in July and early August as shifting interest-rate expectations shook up the stock market. Shares have since rebounded, though they remain more than 7% below their all-time high. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 traded about 1% below its record high on Wednesday.
What Analysts Are Looking for in Nvidia Earnings
Reported delays of the chipmaker’s next-generation Blackwell system could have a “modest” impact on quarterly results and the near-term outlook, according to analysts at Raymond James.
Morgan Stanley researchers, on the other hand, recently said the impact may be so negligible that executives may “not even acknowledge tactical setbacks.”
Either way, analysts are almost unanimously bullish on the stock’s long-term prospects. Of the 61 analysts who have rated the stock, 47 have rated it a “buy,” the highest possible rating, according to FactSet. Nine have said they’re “overweight,” a slightly less emphatic endorsement, and five have rated the stock “neutral.” No Wall Street analyst currently has a negative outlook on Nvidia stock.