Nvidia reported results earlier than planned for Q1 ended April...

cents. Revenue increased to $1.1 billion from $954.7 million. That was in line with Nvidia’s Q1 forecast of $1.1 billion, “plus or minus” 2 percent (CED Feb 14 p9). Profit declined 7 percent and revenue fell 4 percent from Q4. Gross margin grew to 54.8 percent from 54.3 percent in Q1 last year, while operating expenses grew 4 percent to $452.8 million. Nvidia provided no other Q1 details or an earnings forecast. It had planned to report the results Thursday, but reported them two days earlier after a preliminary draft of the results was “inadvertently” emailed to an internal distribution list of about 100 people, it said in a news release. Nvidia’s results “preannouncement” was “made to mitigate legal risk,” said FBR Capital Markets analyst Christopher Rolland. Revenue in Q1 “outperformed” his estimate by about $50 million and gross margin was also better than the 54.4 percent he expected, likely due to the mix of chips sold in Q1, he said. That “may indicate revenue outperformance in higher-end graphics cards,” and also in Nvidia’s Quadro and Tesla chips, he said. There’s a “possibility” that Nvidia will provide a “poor” forecast when it reports full Q1 results on Thursday, but Q1 results were “better than expected on almost every line item,” he said. Rolland said he was “surprised” that Nvidia shares were trading lower after the announcement. Nvidia shares closed 2 percent lower Tuesday at $18.25.