NVIDIA Sets Nov. 17 Earnings Release as Kress Leads Interim CEO Role

Cash generation provides another comparison point. Operating cash flow was $24.077 billion in the second quarter, versus $50.344 billion in the first quarter, and free cash flow was $21.341 billion versus $48.554 billion. During the quarter, accounts receivable rose by $22.346 billion and inventories by $5.784 billion. At quarter-end, cash and cash equivalents were $22.443 billion, marketable debt securities were $34.143 billion, accounts receivable were $63.059 billion and inventories were $31.575 billion. [2]

The balance sheet supplies items that can change how the next quarter reads. Total assets were $320.272 billion on July 26, 2026, compared with $206.803 billion on Jan. 25, 2026. Short-term debt was $1.0 billion and long-term debt was $32.366 billion. Marketable equity securities rose to $42.783 billion from $12.886 billion over that period, while non-marketable securities rose to $51.157 billion from $22.251 billion. The income statement’s equity gains and the balance sheet’s equity holdings are connected, so the third-quarter reconciliation and investment disclosures can show whether those effects persist. [2]

NVIDIA’s August outlook for the third quarter called for $108.0 billion in revenue, with a band of plus or minus 2%. It projected a 74.0% gross margin, with a 50-basis-point range on either side, and operating expenses of about $9.2 billion on a GAAP basis and $9.0 billion on a non-GAAP basis. The August forecast excluded China Data Center compute revenue. For the full fiscal year, the company projected a 16.0% to 18.0% tax rate on both bases, excluding discrete items and material changes to its tax environment. [2]

Segment detail gives the next report concrete operating markers. Data Center revenue was $89.0 billion, up 18% sequentially and 117% from a year earlier. Edge Computing contributed $7.2 billion, up 13% sequentially and 27% year over year. Those two lines provide the clearest published comparison points for the third-quarter mix. [2]

The August release also described product and capacity developments that can frame commentary on supply and demand without predicting third-quarter revenue. Vera Rubin had entered full production, with racks operating at CoreWeave, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Nebius. Spectrum-6 switch systems were arriving at large AI factories. Groq 3 LPX was in full production. The Vera CPU was unveiled with broad adoption planned, a different status from the products already described as in production. [2]

Financing and site arrangements were part of the same operating disclosure. NVIDIA announced partnerships intended to create independent compute-financing platforms with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR, aiming to draw more than $500 billion of third-party capital over time, subject to definitive agreements. A partnership with SB Energy covers land, power and shell capacity at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Ohio to host NVIDIA compute. These arrangements are disclosed plans and agreements in progress; they are not third-quarter revenue figures. [2]

Kress’s qualifications and the board’s search are documented in the transition materials. She has been executive vice president and chief financial officer since September 2013. Her prior career spanned almost a quarter-century in finance roles at technology companies, including three years as CFO of Cisco’s Business Technology and Operations Finance organization and 13 years at Microsoft, four of them as CFO of the Server and Tools division; she also held finance positions at Texas Instruments. The board said it would consider internal and external candidates for permanent CEO, and Kress is serving on an interim basis until a successor is named. Harvey C. Jones, a director since 1993 and managing partner of Square Wave Ventures since 2004, became the board’s first chair. [3] [4] [5]

Governance and disclosure continuity are likely to be part of how readers assess the Nov. 17 materials. The board expressed confidence in Kress and the leadership team and said it expected no interruption to operations, customer commitments or product plans. The transition notice did not name a speaker for the earnings call or set a timetable for choosing a permanent CEO. Any update on the search, board leadership or executive responsibilities would be new information from the release or call, not something established by the Nov. 12 announcement. [1] [3] [5]

Accounting comparability deserves attention because NVIDIA changed its non-GAAP presentation. From the first quarter of fiscal 2027, stock-based compensation has been included in non-GAAP results, and historical non-GAAP figures were restated to match. Stock-based compensation expense was $2.027 billion in the second quarter. The company defines free cash flow as operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment and intangible assets and principal payments on those assets. The second-quarter reconciliation shows which items separate GAAP EPS of $2.46 from non-GAAP EPS of $2.22. [2]

Capital returns are another disclosed strand. Capital returns totaled about $26.0 billion in the second quarter through share repurchases and cash dividends. The remaining repurchase capacity stood at $99.0 billion at quarter-end. NVIDIA declared a $0.25-a-share quarterly dividend, payable Oct. 1, 2026, to shareholders of record on Sept. 10, 2026. The cash-flow statement shows $19.732 billion of payments for common-stock repurchases and $6.047 billion of dividends paid during the quarter. [2]

Operating expenses will be part of the comparison. Second-quarter GAAP operating expenses were $8.408 billion, including $7.054 billion of research and development, compared with $5.413 billion and $4.291 billion, respectively, in the year-earlier quarter. The August outlook put third-quarter GAAP operating expenses at about $9.2 billion and non-GAAP operating expenses at about $9.0 billion. Those figures give readers a way to compare actual spending with the forecast issued before the leadership change. [2]

Tax is another disclosed comparator. Second-quarter income tax expense was $11.819 billion; for the six months it was $23.400 billion. The August outlook projected a full-year GAAP and non-GAAP tax rate of 16.0% to 18.0%, excluding discrete items and material changes to the tax environment, so the third-quarter release can show how year-to-date tax tracks against that stated range. [2]

Several questions can be answered only by the Nov. 17 release or call. Will NVIDIA reaffirm, revise or withdraw the $108.0 billion revenue outlook? How do Data Center and Edge Computing compare with the second-quarter levels? What bridge does management provide from the second quarter’s 75.0% gross margin to the 74.0% third-quarter forecast? Do operating expenses track toward the $9.2 billion GAAP and $9.0 billion non-GAAP targets? These are questions for the report, not predictions; the published figures above are the baselines. [1] [2]

China is a defined assumption rather than a resolved legal or commercial conclusion. The August outlook assumed no Data Center compute revenue from China. The third-quarter release can show whether that assumption remains in place and how any China-related revenue or guidance is described. That is a reporting question about a revenue assumption, not a statement about the legality of any particular transaction or delivery model. [2]

Specific checkpoints for Nov. 17 include revenue against the $108.0 billion forecast and its 2% range; gross margin against 74.0% with the stated 50-basis-point band; GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses against $9.2 billion and $9.0 billion; Data Center and Edge Computing revenue against $89.0 billion and $7.2 billion; and whether the no-China-Data-Center-compute assumption remains in guidance. Also watch the GAAP-to-non-GAAP reconciliation, especially equity securities gains and stock-based compensation; accounts receivable and inventories against the second-quarter increases; cash flow and capital returns against the reported figures; and any update on the CEO search or board leadership. Those are evidence-based checkpoints, not forecasts. [1] [2] [3] [5]

The Nov. 17 timetable was described as previously scheduled in the transition announcement, and the second-quarter release said its webcast replay would remain available until the third-quarter call. That makes the next call a fixed point at which earlier materials can be revisited. It does not establish what the third-quarter figures will be, how the shares will react or whether guidance will change. [1] [2] [3]

Sources

NVIDIA Q3 fiscal2027 earnings-call notice

NVIDIA Q2 fiscal2027 financial results

NVIDIA CEO transition announcement

NVIDIA official Colette Kress biography

NVIDIA SEC Form 8-K

Prepared with AI assistance from the cited sources.