- Nvidia stock jumped 11% after reporting record third-quarter sales of $7.1 billion.
- The 50% sales jump from a year ago was due, in part, to increased demand for gaming and data centers.
- The stock was the most mentioned company among Reddit retail traders following its report.
Nvidia stock jumped 11% Thursday after the chipmaker posted record sales on increased demand for video gaming and predicted a strong end-of-year as more companies push into the future of the internet — the metaverse.
The largest chipmaker in the US by market value reported $7.1 billion in third-quarter sales late Wednesday, a 50% jump from a year ago, thanks to "record revenue from the company's gaming, data center and professional visualization market platforms," the company said in a press release.
That also beat Wall Street forecasts for $6.8 billion in sales. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.17 topped analysts' estimates as well.
Nvidia stock traded up 11% at $324.85 at 10:03 a.m. in New York. Shares have been on a record run this year, rising more than 123% on retail trader hype, a chip shortage, and a broader push into the metaverse. The company is quickly closing in on a $1 trillion market capitalization, a milestone achieved by few others.
Among retail traders, who have long been bullish on Nvidia, the stock was the most talked about on well-known Reddit investing thread Wall Street Bets, according to Quiver Quantitative data. It was also the most hyped stock across Reddit, HypeEquity showed.
One post about Nvidia's earnings in the r/stocks subreddit received more than 1,600 upvotes, or likes.
Meanwhile, the company sees fourth-quarter sales of about $7.40 billion, also topping Wall Street forecasts, with expectations for a boost from metaverse-related spending.
A week ago, Nvidia widely launched its Omniverse Enterprise for companies and individuals to be able to build 3D virtual worlds. The chipmaker predicted that as the world moves more into the metaverse — a virtual space where people will interact — its chip and data center sales will be further boosted.
"Omniverse will be used from collaborative design, customer service avatars and video conferencing, to digital twins of factories, processing plants, even entire cities," CEO Jensen Huang said in the earnings release. "Omniverse brings together NVIDIA's expertise in AI, simulation, graphics and computing infrastructure. This is the tip of the iceberg of what's to come."
The concept of the metaverse shot into the mainstream last month when the company once known as Facebook rebranded to Meta Platforms, as a symbol of its move into the virtual world.