NVIDIA Posts Revenue and Profit Growth for January Quarter

Even though the lack of DirectX 11-capable Fermi-based graphics cards definitely let Advanced Micro Devices gain some ground, NVIDIA still managed to somehow see both a revenue and a profit growth during the fourth quarter of the Fiscal Year 2010, which ended on January 31. The company reported a total revenue of $982.5 million, 9% higher than that of the previous quarter and more than twice as large as that of the same period of the previous year ($481.1 million).

NVIDIA's revenues for Desktop graphics processing units (GPUs) rose 19% sequentially during Q4 and notebook GPU sales grew 27%. The recorded net income was of $131.1 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, for the same period, up almost 70% compared with the previous quarter.

The good marketing performance was owed to the strong sales during the holiday season, when Quadro revenues rose by 25%. NVIDIA's fourth quarter gross margin also saw an increase, now being of 44.7%, compared with the previous quarter's 43.4% and the 29.4% recorded in the same period of the previous year.

"NVIDIA's business continued to accelerate in the fourth quarter, with strong demand in our PC and workstation markets," Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's president and chief executive officer, said. "While the yield of chips made using the latest 40nm process has improved significantly, demand continues to exceed our constrained supply. Looking ahead this year, we are excited to raise the bar again with our next-generation Fermi GPU architecture; our Tegra mobile processor will enable a new class of amazing mobile devices like tablets; and our 3D Vision glasses and accompanying technology will bring a whole new dimension to personal computing."

The company expects revenues to stay flat for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2011, with a GAAP gross margin estimated at 44-45% and GAAP expenses predicted to be of $305 million.