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Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Markets decided to take a bit of a breather today after rebounding to start the holiday-shortened week. Then, after starting to nudge higher within the last hour of trading, all major indexes took a downturn into the close. Expectations over NVIDIA’s NVDA Q1 earnings were likely top of mind, and President Trump’s warning to U.S. software companies not to sell to China probably didn’t help matters.
The Dow shed -244 points on the day, -0.58%, while the S&P 500 lost a nearly identical -0.56% and the Nasdaq was down -0.51%, or 98 points. The small-cap Russell 2000 slid -1.08% on the session. Only the Nasdaq remains in the green over the past five trading days, and all indexes are up now single-digits over the past month. Only the S&P 500 remains positive year to date after today.
Quarterly Earnings Cavalcade This Afternoon: NVDA, CRM & More
The long-awaited Q1 earnings report from semiconductor giant NVIDIA is out this afternoon, and mixed. Revenues stormed ahead to yet another all-time high at $44.1 billion — +69% year over year and +12% quarter over quarter — but earnings of 81 cents per share missed the Zacks consensus by 4 cents. This was due to a $4.5 billion one-time hit on the company’s bottom line. But NVIDIA’s string of 9-straight quarterly earnings beats is over.
It hardly matters. Data Center revenue of $39.1 billion was also a new record high, representing +73% growth year over year. Its Gaming business grew +3.8 billion in the quarter. And the company proudly announces its Blackwell NVL72 “thinking machine” is now in full-scale development.
It wasn’t all amazing news. Gross margins for the quarter, at +61% still generally impressive, +71% is what analysts had been expecting. And with the new ban on sales to China (assuming Trump holds to his threats over an extended period), NVIDIA said it stands to lose up to $8 billion in revenues. This all said, shares are up over +5%, crossing back into positive territory year to date. The stock has gained +18% over the past year, +1400% over the past five. (You can see the full Zacks Earnings Calendar here.)
Salesforce CRM also outperformed estimates on both top and bottom lines in its Q1 report this afternoon, beating on earnings by 4 cents to $2.58 per share on $9.8 billion in revenues, which narrowly outpaced the $9.74 billion expected, +8% year over year. Guidance was also raised for both next quarter and the full year for earnings and sales. Shares are up +1.25% in late trading, but still down double-digits year to date.
Hewlett-Packard HPQ missed expectations in its Q2 release after the closing bell, with 71 cents per share coming up 9 cents short from estimates and -13% year over year. Revenues of $13.2 billion was shy the $13.4 billion analysts had projected, and guidance was ratcheted lower. This marks the fourth-straight quarterly earnings miss for HPQ, and the company guided lower on tariff issues. Shares are -15% in late trading on the news.
e.l.f. Beauty ELF posted a strong fiscal Q4 this afternoon, with earnings of 78 cents per share beating the Zacks consensus by a solid nickel on revenues of $332.6 million which surpassed the $326.4 million expected. The beauty supply giant posted gross margins of +71% in the quarter, and the company is buying Hailey Bieber’s rhode brand for $1 billion. Shares are up marginally, but still -28% from the start of the year.
Enterprise AI firm C3.ai AI, with its extremely forward-thinking ticker symbol, outperformed expectations on top and bottom lines, with a loss per share of -$0.16, four cents better than anticipated, on $108.7 million in sales which beat the Zacks consensus $108.26 million, representing growth of +25% year over year. Non-GAAP gross margins reached +70% on +9% subscription growth. Shares are up +12% in late trading on the report.
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