New York, May 26, 2026, 04:12 (EDT)
- Nvidia was last seen at $215.33. The stock is off roughly 4.4% from the close the previous Friday, after a volatile week around earnings.
- U.S. stock markets stayed shut Monday because of Memorial Day. Trading restarts Tuesday. Nasdaq futures last traded up 0.86%.
- NVIDIA’s record quarter moved the focus to execution risks, its China business, and if AI spending keeps up the current pace.
Nvidia heads into Tuesday’s first session after the holiday with investors still asking: why didn’t a record quarter move the stock higher?
Nvidia shares ended Friday at $215.33, down 1.9% for the session and roughly 4.4% off their May 15 close, market data show. With U.S. cash equities shut for Memorial Day on Monday, traders got extra time to digest Nvidia’s results as the broader market keeps moving with oil, rates and war news.
Nvidia is still the best way to track the artificial-intelligence trade. If the stock can’t get a boost after another strong quarter, it could mean the market thinks expectations now match the company’s rapid growth.
Index futures edged higher early Tuesday, with Nasdaq futures up 0.86% and S&P 500 contracts gaining 0.66%, according to Reuters. Oil prices also climbed after new U.S. strikes in the Middle East hurt hopes for a quick U.S.-Iran peace deal. Futures are contracts that signal possible index moves ahead of regular trading.
Nvidia said first-quarter revenue came in at $81.6 billion, a jump of 85% on the year. Data-center revenue hit $75.2 billion, up 92%. For the second quarter, the company is guiding for revenue of about $91 billion, plus or minus 2%. Nvidia also approved another $80 billion for share buybacks. A buyback happens when the company purchases its own stock.
Chief Executive Jensen Huang called the wave of “AI factories” the biggest infrastructure expansion ever. Nvidia uses “AI factories” to mean data centers full of GPUs—chips used for AI’s tough math. Huang also said, “agentic AI has arrived,” pointing to software that acts and finishes tasks with less human help. NVIDIA Newsroom
The stock dropped after the report. David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, told AP Nvidia had “delivered exactly on what people wanted,” though he said the market doesn’t always move the way investors might think after a strong report. AP News
Morningstar’s Brian Colello moved his fair value on Nvidia up to $280 from $260, saying “near- and medium-term growth continues to modestly outpace” what he’d expected. He pointed to the company’s solid demand from cloud and enterprise, and said networking almost tripled revenue year over year to close to $15 billion. Morningstar
Chip shares got a mixed read from Nvidia, but traders stayed mostly positive. Reuters noted Nvidia’s growth is slowing as more attention goes to AMD and Intel, but the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index added 1.3% on Thursday after Nvidia’s results. The market took those numbers as a good sign for the sector.
AI names are set for more tests this week. Dell has earnings out Thursday, and investors are focused on AI server sales. Marvell, reporting Wednesday, gets attention for AI custom chips and its recent Nvidia-linked deal, Investopedia said. Their numbers could make the case that AI spending is still moving through the supply chain—or that Nvidia is taking the bulk of profits.
Bar might be set too high for Nvidia. The company’s current outlook already excludes any data-center compute sales from China. Investors are wondering if tighter export rules, custom processors from major buyers, or more affordable competing accelerators could soon have an impact. On top of that, higher oil prices and rising bond yields are another risk, since they tend to hit long-duration growth shares.
Nvidia is still putting up big numbers, but its stock hasn’t moved much even when results top forecasts. The question is whether that’s just investors taking a break ahead of a holiday, or if the AI rally is cooling off for good. Tuesday’s open could give an early read. For now, it’s not about demand slumping. It’s about how long the market’s patience lasts.
