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Tag: Product Stockpile

  • This record number in Nvidia earnings is a scary sight

    This record number in Nvidia earnings is a scary sight

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    Nvidia Corp.’s financial results had a bit of a surprise for investors, and not on the good side — product inventories doubled to a record high as the chip company gears up for a questionable holiday season.

    Nvidia reported fiscal third-quarter revenue that was slightly better than analysts’ reduced expectations Wednesday, but the numbers weren’t that great. Revenue fell 17% to $5.9 billion, while earnings were cut in half thanks to a $702 million inventory charge, largely relating to slower data-center demand in China.

    Gaming revenue in the quarter fell 51% to $1.57 billion. Nvidia said it is working with its retail partners to help move the currently high-channel inventories.

    While the company was writing off the inventory for China, its own new product inventory was growing. Nvidia
    NVDA,
    -4.54%
    reported that its overall product inventory nearly doubled to $4.45 billion in the fiscal third quarter, compared with $2.23 billion a year ago and $3.89 billion in the prior quarter. Executives cited its coming product launches, designed around its new Ada and Hopper architectures, when asked about the inventory gains.

    In the semiconductor industry, high inventories can make investors nervous, especially after the industry had so many supply constraints in recent years that quickly swung to a glut of chips in 2022. With doubts about demand for gaming cards and consumers’ willingness to spend amid sky-high inflation this holiday season, having all that product on hand just amps up the nerves.

    Full earnings coverage: Nvidia profit chopped in half, but tweaked servers to China offset earlier $400 million warning

    Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress told MarketWatch in a telephone interview Wednesday that the company’s high level of inventories were commensurate with its high levels of revenue.

    “I do believe….it is our highest level of inventory,” she said. “They go hand in hand.” Kress said she was confident in the success of Nvidia’s upcoming product launches.

    Nvidia’s revenue reached a peak in the April 2022 quarter with $8.3 billion, and in the past two quarters revenue has slowed, with gaming demand sluggish amid a transition to a new cycle, and a decline in China data-center demand due to COVID-19 lockdowns and U.S. government restrictions.

    For its data-center customers, the new architectures promise major advances in computing power and artificial-intelligence features, with Nvidia planning to ship the equivalent of a supercomputer in a box with its new products over the next year. Those types of advanced products weigh on inventory totals even more, Kress said, because of the price of the total package.

    “It’s about the complexity of the system we are building, that is what drives the inventory, the pieces of that together,” Kress said.

    Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon believes that products based on Hopper will begin shipping over the next several quarters, “at materially higher price points.” He said in a recent note that he believes Nvidia’s numbers were likely hitting a bottom in this quarter.

    “We remain positive on the Hopper ramp into next year, and believe numbers have at this point likely reached close to bottom, with new cycles brewing and an attractive secular story even without China potential,” Rasgon said in an earnings preview note Tuesday.

    Read also: Warren Buffett’s chip-stock purchase is a classic example of why you want to be ‘greedy only when others are fearful’

    Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang reminded investors on a conference call that the company’s inventories are “never zero,” and said everyone is enthusiastic about the upcoming launches. But it doesn’t take too long of a memory to conjure up a time when Nvidia went into a holiday with an inventory backlog that included new architecture and greatly disappointed investors: Four years ago, Huang had to cut his forecast for holiday earnings twice amid a “crypto hangover” with similar dynamics to the current moment

    Investors need faith that this holiday season will not be the same, even as demand for some videogame products declines after a pandemic boom just as the market for cryptocurrency — some of which has been mined with Nvidia products — hits a rough patch. Huang said that Nvidia’s RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics cards based on the Ada Lovelace architecture had an “exceptional launch,” and sold out.

    Nvidia shares gained more than 2% in after-hours trading Wednesday, suggesting that some are betting that this time will be different. That enthusiasm needs to translate into revenue for Nvidia so that this big gain in inventories does not end up being part of another write-down at some point in the future.

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  • Nike stock drops 10% as execs predict cheaper clothing for at least the rest of the year

    Nike stock drops 10% as execs predict cheaper clothing for at least the rest of the year

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    Shares of Nike Inc. plunged as much as 10% after hours Thursday, after the athletic-gear giant’s executives said price-cutting efforts to flush off-season clothing from warehouses in North America would dent gross margins for the rest of its fiscal year and warned of a big potential hit from the stronger dollar.

    Management also said they expected their rivals to keep cutting prices through at least the end of the calendar year, as they try to clear their own stockpiles. But the Nike executives said inventory levels in North America likely “peaked” in its first quarter, which ended on Aug. 31, and expected levels to even out — with newer, seasonally-aligned, in-demand product — in the months ahead as it prepares for the holiday rush.

    “We’re taking decisive action to clear excess inventory, focusing on specific pockets of seasonally late product, predominantly in apparel,” Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend said on Nike’s earnings call.

    He added that he expected the moves to have a “transitory impact” on gross margins for the year.

    The lopsided inventory levels, which grew 44% during Nike’s third quarter, followed factory closures last year in Asia, where most of its footwear is made, that led to late product deliveries, Friend said.

    But those late deliveries are now getting mixed in with holiday-season deliveries that are set to arrive earlier than planned. The earlier arrivals, executives said, were a function of earlier ordering — due to the shipping delays that have characterized the past year —and then a sudden, more recent improvement in those shipping times.

    And as the U.S. dollar strengthens, Friend said he expected the full-year negative impact of foreign exchange on reported sales and earnings before interest and taxes to be $4 billion and $900 million, respectively.

    Still, executives said inventory management in China was “ahead of plan” as it recalibrates supply and navigates COVID-19 related restrictions there. And they said that consumer demand was still strong, despite rising prices. Friend and CEO John Donahoe both repeated that Nike remained customers’ “No. 1 cool” and “No. 1 favorite” brand.

    Donahoe said shoes like the Air Max Scorpion — which offered the “most air ever, in terms of pound per square inch” — reflected Nike’s commitment to innovation. The company’s Travis Scott and LeBron 20 sneakers also remained popular, executives said. The back-to-school season, and demand for its Jordan and Converse sneakers, were also solid.

    As for fiscal first-quarter financials, Nike reported net income of $1.5 billion, or 93 cents a share, compared with $1.9 billion, or $1.16 a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales came in at $12.7 billion, compared with $12.2 billion a year ago.

    Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 92 cents a share on sales of $12.28 billion. Shares of Nike
    NKE,
    -3.41%
    were last down 9.3% after hours, but fell more than 10% at one point after the close.

    Prior to the report, analysts following Nike had zeroed in on the impact of the stronger U.S. dollar, the impact of China’s COVID lockdowns, as well as the effects from bigger discounts to sell shoes and other gear that sat around for too long due to backups in the company’s supply chain. The back-to-school season, and competition with the likes of Adidas AG
    ADDYY,
    -5.21%
    were also points of focus for Wall Street.

    Gross margins fell to 44.3% from 46.5% during the quarter. Nike executives said the decrease “was primarily driven by North America, which took measures to liquidate excess inventory through Nike Direct markdowns and wholesale marketplace actions.”

    Inventory for Nike stood at $9.7 billion, a 44% increase from the year-earlier period, due to what executives described as “ongoing supply-chain volatility, partially offset by strong consumer demand during the quarter.”

    Nike, in June, said it expected “higher promotional activity” in the first quarter, as it tries to sell seasonal items that arrived late, following the factory closures last year in Asia. However, for the full year ahead, management at that time said it was planning for “mid-single-digit price increases.”

    Executives also said then that they were planning to expand sales that go directly to consumers, via its own stores and online. The company over the years has been trying to rely less on retail chains like Foot Locker Inc.
    FL,
    -6.36%
    for sales.

    Shares of Nike have fallen 43% so far this year. By comparison, the S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    -2.11%
    is down around 24% over that time.

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