Nvidia Faces $109.2 Billion Revenue Test in First Results Under Interim CEO Colette Kress

It is the chipmaker's first report since Jensen Huang resigned as chief executive on November 12. Colette Kress is running the company as interim CEO while remaining chief financial officer. The board is searching for a permanent successor and will consider internal and external candidates.

The stock closed Friday at $162.85, down 2.01% on the day. It fell 12.75% over the week, from $186.64 on November 6, and touched an intraday low of $148.80 on Thursday. Friday's close left the shares about 32% below their record close of $239.24 on October 6.

Traders are positioned for a large move. Bloomberg options data implied a swing of about 6.7% after the report, FinanceFeeds reported. Benzinga put the implied move at about 9.6% as of Thursday's close, the largest before any Nvidia report since August 2024. Applied to Friday's close, that range runs from about $147 to $178.

Nvidia said in October that the quarter ended October 25 and that its conference call would start at 2 p.m. Pacific time, or 5 p.m. Eastern. Results are expected shortly before that.

The main test is guidance. Investors want to know whether Kress repeats the outlook Nvidia gave under Huang, and whether orders from the large cloud operators have changed since the leadership news broke. Mint reported that the market will be looking for signs that demand for AI infrastructure remains strong, against concerns about whether spending at this scale can last.

Brokers have already moved. HSBC cut the stock to Hold and lowered its target to $170 from $365, saying investor confidence had been "shaken". Cantor Fitzgerald cut its target to $250 from $350 but kept an Overweight rating. Stifel has a $205 target and a Buy rating. Baird has a $200 target and a Neutral rating. Wedbush expects Nvidia to beat its own forecast and guide fourth-quarter revenue above Street estimates. Yahoo Finance counted at least ten analysts who have moved from Buy to Hold since Huang's departure.

Pressure from Washington adds to the risk. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Fox News on Sunday that the board should hire an outside chief executive and that he wanted answers from the board and its outside counsel within 10 days. "I want to keep coming back to what was the culture at Nvidia, and were they pressing these seemingly illicit sales to goose their revenues and their earnings?" Bessent said, according to Al Jazeera.

The succession race is still open. The Financial Times has reported that Arm chief executive Rene Haas is among the candidates discussed, and prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket gave Nvidia executive Ian Buck about a 40% chance, FinanceFeeds reported. The FT has also reported that Huang has discussed a return with allies.

The Nvidia report opens a crowded week for AI stocks. US October retail sales are due on Tuesday morning, minutes of the Federal Reserve's October meeting follow on Wednesday, and Anthropic is scheduled to list on Nasdaq on Thursday, November 19.