NVIDIA posts fiscal Q3 2012 profit of $178.3 million

NVIDIA reported its fiscal Q3 2012 results:

-- Revenue increased 4.9 percent to $1.07 billion from $1.02 billion in the previous quarter.
-- GAAP net income was $178.3 million, or $0.29 per diluted share; non-GAAP net income was $217.0 million, or $0.35 per diluted share.
-- GAAP gross margin increased to 52.2 percent; non-GAAP gross margin increased to 52.5 percent from the second quarter's 51.9 percent. Both are records for the fifth consecutive quarter.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) today reported revenue of $1.07 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 ended Oct. 30, 2011, up 4.9 percent from the prior quarter, and up 26.3 percent from $843.9 million in the same period a year earlier.

On a GAAP basis, the company recorded net income of $178.3 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2012. That compares with net income of $151.6 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, in the prior quarter and $84.9 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier.

On a non-GAAP basis -- which excludes stock-based compensation, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, other acquisition related costs, and the tax impact associated with these items -- net income was $217.0 million, or $0.35 per diluted share. That compares with net income of $193.5 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, in the prior quarter, and net income of $117.4 million, $0.20 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

GAAP gross margin was 52.2 percent, a fifth consecutive record, compared with 51.7 percent in the previous quarter and 46.5 percent in the same period a year earlier. Non-GAAP gross margin, at 52.5 percent, was also a record, and compares with 51.9 percent in the prior quarter and 46.8 percent in the same period a year earlier.

"NVIDIA's strategy is coming into its own, as the world becomes increasingly visual and mobile," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive of NVIDIA. "Our GPU business accelerated in the third quarter, driven by strong demand from gamers and the professional market. And our mobile business benefited from new devices coming onto the market. With Tegra 3 phone wins well ahead of Tegra 2's pace, we're expecting strong growth in the year ahead."

Outlook
Our outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 is as follows:

-- Revenue is expected to be relatively flat, plus or minus two percent, from the third quarter.

-- GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be flat to up 0.5 percentage points from the respective GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins in the third quarter.

-- GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $372 million; non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $330 million.

-- Our GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates are both expected to be between 14 to 16 percent, excluding any discrete tax events that may occur in the quarter.

We estimate depreciation and amortization for the fourth quarter to be approximately $53 million to $57 million. Capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $30 to $40 million.

Diluted shares for the fourth quarter are expected to be approximately 618 million.

Third Quarter Fiscal 2012 and Recent Highlights:
-- NVIDIA launched Tegra 3, the world's first quad-core processor for super phones and tablets, bringing PC-class performance levels to tablets and phones. Simultaneously, Asus announced that its Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the first device based on Tegra 3, will be available worldwide in December.

-- In addition, NVIDIA and its partners added three more Tegra(R)-based superphones to the eight already available -- LG Optimus EX, LG Optimus BQ and Motorola Electrify. They also added 13 new tablets, bringing the total to 23. New models include the Asus Slider, Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet P, Toshiba Scorpio 7", Acer Iconia A100, Sharp Galapagos E-Reader, Dell Streak 10, Lenovo ThinkPad, and Samsung's Galaxy Tab 8.9.

-- NVIDIA Tesla processors were chosen by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which will deploy 18,000 of them in its new machine, "Titan," expected to be the world's fastest supercomputer, with the potential to deliver speeds of over 20 petaflops.