Nvidia’s $80 Billion Buyback and 2,400% Dividend Jump: Inside the Numbers Behind the $91 Billion Guidance

Nvidia reports record Q1 results: $81.6B revenue, $20B shareholder returns, 2,400% dividend hike, and $80B buyback. Stock dips on sell-the-news.

Nvidia isn’t just printing record profits — it’s handing them back to shareholders at a pace that dwarfs any previous cycle. The chipmaker’s board authorised a fresh $80 billion share repurchase programme on 18 May, with no expiration date, adding to roughly $38 billion in remaining capacity from an older plan. That gives the company a total firepower of around $118 billion to buy back its own stock. In the first quarter alone, $20 billion flowed back to investors via buybacks and dividends — the largest single-quarter shareholder return in Nvidia’s history.

The dividend story is equally striking, albeit more symbolic. Nvidia boosted its quarterly payout from a penny to $0.25 per share — a 2,400% increase. In absolute terms that amounts to roughly $24.3 billion annually, but against net income of $58.3 billion in the last quarter, the dividend remains a gesture of confidence rather than a strain on the balance sheet.

All this firepower rests on a quarter that was already stellar by any measure. Revenue hit $81.6 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, up 85% year over year. The data centre business, the engine of Nvidia’s surge, delivered $75.2 billion — a 92% increase. Within that segment, networking revenue exploded 199% to $14.8 billion, as hyperscalers raced to expand their AI clusters. Free cash flow reached approximately $48.6 billion, nearly double the prior year’s level. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.87, topping the analyst consensus of $1.76.

Management’s outlook for the second quarter is equally punchy. Revenue is expected to land at roughly $91 billion, well above the $86.8 billion analysts had pencilled in. Chief Executive Jensen Huang called the buildout of AI infrastructure the greatest investment wave in history and noted that capacity for the current Blackwell architecture is booked solid through mid-2026. The guidance excludes any contribution from China, a market that remains geopolitically frozen for Nvidia.

Yet the stock has done what it often does after earnings: fall. Nvidia shares trade at around €188.90, roughly 6% below their 52-week high of €201.05. The relative strength index sits at 39.5, signalling short-term selling pressure. Market participants describe the move as a classic “sell the news” pattern, with institutional investors locking in profits after expectations were already priced in. The dip is hardly a novelty — Nvidia has not closed higher on the day after any earnings report since spring 2025, and has still rallied more than 60% over that stretch. Year to date the stock is up about 17%.

What gets less attention in the headline numbers is the quiet growth engine inside the data centre. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress revealed that all major hyperscalers are now deploying Nvidia’s Arm-based Vera CPUs, and the company expects nearly $20 billion in CPU revenue this year — enough to make Nvidia one of the largest data centre CPU suppliers globally. That diversification is a key reason 40 out of 42 analysts rate the stock a buy.

The next product generation, codenamed Vera Rubin, introduces Nvidia’s first processor purpose-built for autonomous AI agents. The chip could be markedly more expensive than its predecessors, and rising costs for memory components are already squeezing margins. The gross margin held at 75% in the first quarter, but how pricing pressure from higher input costs will affect demand remains an open question.

For now, Nvidia has provided the market with a clear target: $91 billion in second-quarter revenue. If the number materialises near that level, it should provide a floor for the shares. Until then, the sell-the-news crowd may continue to test the stock’s resilience — and the company’s $118 billion arsenal of buyback authority stands ready as a backstop.