Nvidia Q3 Sales and Profit Beat, Shares Up 7% After Hours

Graphics chip maker Nvidia ( NVDA ) this evening reported sales and profit for the third quarter ended October 26 ahead of analysts’ estimates. Sales fell 20% to $897.7 million, but still beat analysts’ $890 million estimate for the quarter, while profit of 20 cents per share, excluding some costs, was quite a bit better than the 12 cent average estimate on the Street. Including those costs, profit would have been 11 cents a share, still better than the 5-cent estimate of analysts. The company did not provide a forecast; that should come in the conference call that takes place at 5pm Eastern, which you can listen to here . Gross profit as a percentage of sales bounced back from the disastrous second quarter ended in July, when the company, hit by product defects and extreme pricing presure, saw gross margin fall from 45% to 17%. This time, gross profit came in at 40.9% — still down from 46% a year earlier, but certainly an improvement from July. In the company’s press ... (link)