Nvidia shares surge 6 pct as profit, revenue beat estimates

February 9, 2018: Nvidia Corp reported a better-than-expected 34 percent jump in quarterly revenue on Thursday, underpinned by strong demand for its graphics chips used in data centers, gaming devices, self-driving vehicles and in cryptocurrency mining.

The company's shares rose 6 percent to $231 in extended trading on Thursday. They have surged about 83 percent in the past 12 months.

Nvidia's revenue from gaming, for which it is best known, rose 29 percent to $1.74 billion, accounting for a little more than a half of its total revenue in the fourth quarter.

The number topped the analysts' average estimate of $1.59 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue from Nvidia's widely watched data center business, which counts Amazon.com Inc's Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corp's Azure cloud business among its customers, more than doubled to $606 million, beating estimates of $541.1 million.

Net income rose to $1.12 billion, or $1.78 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 28 from $655 million, or 99 cents per share, a year earlier.

Results include a $133 million gain related to the new U.S. tax law.

Total revenue rose to $2.91 billion from $2.17 billion.

Excluding items, Nvidia earned $1.72 per share.

Analysts on average were expecting a profit of $1.17 per share on revenue of $2.69 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.