Nvidia’s basic problem is that investor expectations are so high that the company struggles to meet them.

In the quarter ended on July 27, results released today after the close of trading, Nvidia said it earned an adjusted $1.05 per share on $46.74 billion in revenue.

Which disappointed the market. The stock fell 3.03% in after-hours trading.

For example, the company beat revenue estimates by less than 1.5% for the quarter. Over the last eight quarters Nvidia has delivered revenue beats of 2% to 20%.

Or look at growth in revenue for data center chips, the source of the bulk of Nvidia’s revenue. On a year-over-year basis, data center revenue rose by 56%. Not good enough. On a sequential basis, data center revenues rose by only 5%. At $41.1 billion, datacenter revenue fell below the $41.29 billion consensus estimate. (The company said it did not have any H20 revenue to China-based customers in the second quarter, but it did benefit from a $180 million release of previously reserved H20 inventory. Nvidia recently received permission from the Trump administration to resume sales of its H20 chip China.)

Other newer parts of Nvidia’s business grew nicely. Automotive revenue for the period was $586 million, up 69% year-over-year. Professional visualization revenue rose 32% year-over-year to $601 million. Gaming revenue, Nvidia’s historic original market, for the period was $4.3 billion, up 49% year-over-year and 48% sequentially.

The problem with these sources of revenue is that they are comparatively small.

In what looks to me like a recognition of the expectations problem and an an effort to support the stock’s $4.43 trillion (yep, with a “T”) market capitalization, along with its quarterly revenue and earnings results, Nvidia announced a new $60 billion share buyback authorization. The company still has $14.7 billion remaining in its existing buyback program.

I leave it to you to decide whether spending $60 billion to buy back stock at a historic high is a good use of shareholder cash. (Supporting the share price is certainly good for Nvidia officers and employees with stock options.) I would cynically note that announcing a buyback program isn’t the same as actually buying any shares in the market on any specific schedule.

Looking to the third quarter of fiscal 2026, Nvidia said it expects to generate $54 billion in revenue, plus or minus 2%. This does not include any H20-related revenue from China. Analysts had been forecasting $53.46 billion in revenue.

Nvidia also said it would pay its quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share on October 2, to shareholders of record on September 11, 2025.

Given the momentum-focused nature of this current stock market, I would buy Nvidia shares on this dip. I hold the stock in my long-term 50 Stocks Portfolio.