NVDA ($85-$84-$88) P/E 64 Beats by 2 cents. Raises guidance for Q3 20% and Q4 10%, announces stock split.
Tuesday August 14, 6:42 pm Eastern Time
NVidia reports increased profit, stock split
(UPDATE: Changes first paragraph, adds guidance, byline. Previous LOS ANGELES)
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Graphics chip designer NVidia Corp. (NasdaqNM:NVDA - news) on Tuesday said second-quarter earnings rose 50 percent year over year and raised guidance for the next two years based on expected strong sales in its new product lines.
NVidia also announced that its board has approved a 2-for-1 stock split effective Aug. 28. The new shares will be distributed by Sept. 11, the company said in a statement, giving NVidia 143 million shares outstanding.
NVidia, which makes chips for PCs, workstations and the XBox video game console from Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), said earnings for the quarter ended July 31 were $33.6 million, or 39 cents per diluted share, compared with $22.5 million, or 28 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
Excluding amortization of goodwill and one-time charges, the company reported pro forma earnings of $50.1 million, or 43 cents per share, ahead of the consensus estimate of 41 cents per share from five analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call.
Revenue for the quarter was $260.3 million, up 53 percent from $170.4 million in the year-earlier quarter and up 8 percent from $240.9 million in the prior quarter.
Christine Hoberg, NVidia's chief financial officer, said on a conference call to discuss the second quarter results that the company expects revenue of $1.16 billion to $1.17 billion and earnings per share of $1.80 for fiscal year 2002.
When NVidia last gave fiscal 2002 guidance Feb. 14, it forecast revenue for the year of $1.13 billion and earnings per share of $1.75. The First Call consensus had been for $1.74 per share.
For fiscal 2003, Hoberg forecast revenue of $1.63 billion to $1.65 billion and earnings per share of $2.35 to $2.40. The First Call consensus had been for $2.31 per share.
``All of (our) new products and technologies (are) really hitting stride,'' said Michael Hara, vice president of investor relations and communications for NVidia, in a telephone interview.
``Because we have a number of growth drivers behind us, pushing us forward, the slowness in the PC market couldn't drag us down too far,'' he said.
In addition, ``there is some downside buffer in our guidance'' to account for the possibility that XBox might ship short, Hara added. Microsoft reaffirmed today that the XBox will be on time and on quantity for a Nov. 8 launch.
Shares in NVidia closed down 2.7 percent, or $2.34, at $85.85 on Nasdaq. Year to date, NVidia shares are up 162 percent, matching strong gains in the video game industry but well ahead of the weak performance throughout the chip market.
NVidia's main competitor is ATI Technologies Inc. (NasdaqNM:ATYT - news), which is up almost 90 percent for the year on Nasdaq.
ATI is providing the graphics chipset for Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s new console, the GameCube, which launches on Nov. 5, three days before the XBox and its NVidia chip. |
