NVIDIA closes record year with a record quarter, yearly revenue tops $5 billion for first time

NVIDIA announces its fourth-quarter revenue came in at $1.40 billion, up 12 percent versus the year before. It's a record quarter for the company, and a record year as well as NVIDIA pulled in full-year revenue of $5.01 billion, up 7 percent versus the previous fiscal year. Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share came in at 52 cents per share, up 21 percent versus the year before and significantly higher than the analyst consensus of 32 cents per share.

NVIDIA saw growth across all of its market platforms, which include gaming, professional visualization, datacenter and automotive, and notes its deep learning solution are growing at a sharp rate. For the current quarter, NVIDIA expects revenue to come in at $1.26 billion, plus or minus two percent.

Investors are jumping for joy and pushed the stock 7.70 percent higher in after-hours trading to $29.79.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) today reported record revenue for the fourth quarter ended January 31, 2016, of $1.40 billion, up 12 percent from $1.25 billion a year earlier, and up 7 percent from $1.30 billion in the previous quarter.

Revenue for fiscal 2016 was a record $5.01 billion, up 7 percent from $4.68 billion a year earlier.

GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $0.35, inclusive of a restructuring charge of $0.04 per diluted share. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.52, up 21 percent from $0.43 a year earlier and up 13 percent from $0.46 in the previous quarter.

GAAP earnings per diluted share for the full year were $1.08, inclusive of restructuring charges of $0.15 per diluted share. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.67, up 18 percent from $1.42 a year earlier.

"We had another record quarter, capping a record year," said Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer, NVIDIA. "Our strategy is to create specialized accelerated computing platforms for large growth markets that demand the 10x boost in performance we offer. Each platform leverages our focused investment in building the world's most advanced GPU technology.

"NVIDIA is at the center of four exciting growth opportunities -- PC gaming, VR, deep learning, and self-driving cars. We are especially excited about deep learning, a breakthrough in artificial intelligence algorithms that takes advantage of our GPU's ability to process data simultaneously.

"Deep learning is a new computing model that teaches computers to find patterns and make predictions, extracting powerful insights from massive quantities of data. We are working with thousands of companies that are applying the power of deep learning in fields ranging from life sciences and financial services to the Internet of Things," he said.

Capital Return
During the fourth quarter, NVIDIA paid $62 million in cash dividends and received 4.3 million shares in connection with an accelerated share repurchase agreement that it had entered into in the quarter. During fiscal 2016, the company returned to shareholders $800 million in quarterly cash dividends and share repurchases.

For fiscal 2017, NVIDIA intends to return approximately $1.0 billion to shareholders through ongoing quarterly cash dividends and share repurchases.

NVIDIA will pay its next quarterly cash dividend of $0.115 per share on March 23, 2016, to all shareholders of record on March 2, 2016.