Huang’s resignation sends Nvidia shares down 4.3% ahead of third-quarter results on Nov. 17
Key Facts
Nvidia announced on Nov. 12 that Jensen Huang had resigned as president, chief executive and a member of the board, effective immediately. The announcement came five days before the scheduled release of third-quarter fiscal 2027 results, the company’s first financial disclosure after the leadership transition. Reuters reported that the shares closed down 4.3% on Thursday, after recovering from their intraday lows. The developments put the company’s results and forward guidance at the center of investor attention. Nvidia confirmed the results would be released as scheduled.
The board appointed CFO Colette Kress interim chief executive, and she will continue to serve as executive vice president and chief financial officer until a permanent successor is named. The company said the board had begun searching for candidates from inside and outside the company. Kress has served as executive vice president and chief financial officer since joining Nvidia in September 2013. An Associated Press report said she previously worked at Cisco, Microsoft and Texas Instruments. The company’s announcement did not specify who would lead the results call.
The board appointed Harvey C. Jones Nvidia’s first chairman. Jones said the company expected its operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without disruption. The assurance comes as the market awaits the company’s disclosure of results for a quarter that ended on Oct. 25, 2026. Nvidia is scheduled to publish a written results statement from Kress after the figures are publicly announced. That will be followed by a question-and-answer call with analysts and investors. The disclosure schedule allows investors to review the figures and guidance in the same session.
In the second quarter of fiscal 2027, Nvidia reported revenue of $96.2 billion, up 18% from the previous quarter and 106% from the year-earlier period. Data center revenue was $89 billion, up 18% quarter over quarter and 117% year over year. The company had forecast third-quarter revenue of $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, excluding data center computing revenue from China. It also put expected gross margin at 74%, plus or minus 50 basis points. Operating expenses were estimated at about $9.2 billion on a GAAP basis and $9 billion on a non-GAAP basis.
Visible Alpha estimates cited by S&P Global put expected third-quarter total revenue at $109.3 billion, including $101.8 billion from data centers. Estimates for the segment’s revenue range from $99.7 billion to $110.8 billion, making performance in the company’s largest business one of the key items to watch in the report. For fiscal 2027, consensus puts data center gross margin at 73.7%, compared with levels of 78% in fiscal 2024 and 2025. On the second-quarter earnings call, Kress said the company expected revenue growth of about 70% in fiscal 2028 and described the outlook as “supply-constrained.” She also said revenue from the hyperscaler customer group was $49 billion in the second quarter, up 13% from the previous quarter.
The shares had been declining in the sessions before the resignation announcement, closing at $186.64 on Nov. 6, then $178.67 on Nov. 9 and $168.89 on Nov. 10, before rising to $173.73 on Nov. 11. On Nov. 12, they closed at $166.19. An S&P Global report said the shares were down about 20% since the previous quarter, while noting that results and guidance could be a potential catalyst for the stock. Across the broader market, Reuters reported that the semiconductor index fell 0.5% that day, while AMD rose 5.9% and Broadcom gained 5.5%. The news agency quoted Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel, as saying gains by competitors offset some of Nvidia’s losses, adding that the company’s future remained clouded by unknowns.
Nvidia scheduled the release of its third-quarter fiscal 2027 results for Nov. 17 at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific time, with the earnings call set to begin at 2 p.m. The report follows Huang’s resignation, with Kress taking the interim leadership role while continuing as CFO. The actual figures will provide a direct comparison with the revenue forecast of $108 billion and Visible Alpha consensus of $109.3 billion. The results will also show data center performance, which generated revenue of $89 billion in the previous quarter. As the board chairman affirmed, continuity in operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap will remain among the issues the market watches in the first disclosure of the transition period.