US stock futures, particularly in the tech sector, saw a boost after Nvidia's impressive earnings report and optimistic revenue forecast. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8% and the S&P 500 advanced 0.4% on Thursday. Nvidia's shares jumped 7% in premarket trading after exceeding analyst expectations and projecting 70% revenue growth for fiscal 2028, significantly higher than the 44% analysts had anticipated. CEO Jensen Huang stated that demand is "much greater than 70%" but the company faces supply constraints.
Nvidia reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $96.2 billion, more than double the previous year, surpassing analyst estimates of $92.27 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.22, exceeding expectations of $2.09. Data center revenue, a key driver for Nvidia, reached $89 billion, a 117% increase year-over-year. Despite these strong results, Nvidia's stock initially slipped over 1% in after-hours trading, with some analysts noting that such a robust performance was already priced into the company's $5 trillion valuation. However, the pre-market trading on Thursday showed significant recovery and gains.
The positive sentiment extended to the broader semiconductor sector, with companies like Broadcom and Marvell Technology seeing gains of 2%, while SK Hynix and Arm were up around 4%. U.S.-listed chip stocks like Marvell Technology (up 5.8%) and Micron (up 4.5%) also rallied. Software companies also experienced significant increases; Salesforce surged 13% after its revenue of $11.35 billion beat Wall Street forecasts, partly due to a $2.6 billion gain from an investment in AI startup Anthropic. Okta's shares soared over 20% after reporting adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share and revenue of $805 million, both exceeding analyst expectations, and raising its full-year guidance, driven by strong demand for agentic AI solutions.
