Goldman Sachs: NVIDIA's Q2 revenue of $96.2 billion exceeded expectations, Q3 guidance of $108 billion topped market consensus
According to Tide Research, Goldman Sachs' August 26 quick commentary highlighted that NVIDIA reported Q2 revenue of $96.2 billion, beating Goldman's forecast by 3.4% and market consensus by 4.2%; data center revenue reached $89.0 billion, outpacing estimates by 2.9% and consensus by 3.6%; EPS came in at $2.22, surpassing expectations by 4.9% and consensus by 6.1%; and gross margin was 75.0%, in line with projections. The midpoint of Q3 revenue guidance stands at $108.0 billion, reflecting 14% QoQ growth and approximately 90% YoY growth, exceeding the market consensus of $105.4 billion but slightly falling short of Goldman's estimate of $110.7 billion. Gross margin guidance is set at 74.0%, slightly below the anticipated 74.9%.
Goldman Sachs retains a Buy rating with a $285 price target, offering 34% upside from current levels, though it expects the stock to trade in a range post-earnings, as market optimism has already been fully absorbed following hyperscalers' capex upgrades. The Q3 gross margin guidance misses market expectations by roughly 90 basis points, mainly due to elevated initial ramp-up costs for the new Blackwell architecture GPUs. Goldman asserts that three key discussion points from the earnings call—the upside potential for the $1 trillion cumulative data center revenue target, the structure of the $500 billion financing facility, and the gross margin trajectory in H2 2026 and 2027—are more critical than the earnings figures themselves. Robust guidance underscores the resilience of AI spending, making digital semiconductors such as Broadcom, AMD, Marvell, ARM, and Intel the most...