AI Bubble Worries Are Rising. Nvidia's $31.9 Billion Profit Says Otherwise.
Key Points
Nvidia set another record for quarterly revenue with $57 billion in sales.
The company's gross margin was 73.4% and is expected to improve in the fourth quarter.
The stock jumped 4% in after-hours trading.
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While the stock market has been fretting in recent weeks about the idea of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) may have just let the air out of those fears. The company's earnings report for its fiscal third quarter of 2026 shows that the appetite for AI stocks -- and Nvidia's groundbreaking infrastructure in particular -- remains ravenous.
Image source: Nvidia.
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A look at Nvidia's report
Nvidia's earnings report after the bell on Nov. 19 showed record revenue of $57 billion, which is up 62% from last year and 22% on a sequential basis. Most of that revenue comes from Nvidia's data center sales, which recorded $51.2 billion in revenue – up 66% from last year.
Nvidia's gross margin was an incredible 73.4% with net income of $31.9 billion -- up 65% from last year and 21% from the second quarter. Earnings per share were up 67% from a year ago to $1.30.
"Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out," CEO Jensen Huang said. "Compute demand keeps accelerating and compounding across training and inference – each growing exponentially. We've entered the virtuous cycle of AI.
"The AI ecosystem is scaling fast -- with more new foundation model makers, more AI start-ups, across more industries, and in more countries," Huang said. "AI is going everywhere, doing everything, all at once."
Nvidia's guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter calls for revenue of $65 billion, and for margins to improve to between 74.8% and 75%.
What Nvidia's earnings mean for AI demand
If there's an AI bubble to be had, it won't be with Nvidia or its major customers. Nvidia already has contracts with OpenAI, which is using at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia architecture, and has a new agreement with Anthropic to build at least 1 gigawatt of compute power with Nvidia's chips.
In addition, Nvidia has partnerships with Alphabet's Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle, and xAI to build out domestic AI infrastructure -- all using Nvidia's chips.
That's why Nvidia's stock jumped 4% in after-hours trading after the company dropped its earnings report. Shares of other major AI stocks were also up – Advanced Micro Devices rose 3% in after-hours trading, Broadcom was up 2%, and Palantir Technologies was up 2.5%.
Nvidia's earnings report may be just the thing that the stock market -- and AI stocks in general -- need to finish the year strong. The technology sector has been slipping in recent weeks, having just broken even in the last month after a better than 20% gain in the first 10 months of 2025. With Nvidia showing continued strength and forecasting even better margins and revenue in the fourth quarter, fears of an AI bubble may fade away quickly.
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Patrick Sanders has positions in Nvidia and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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