London pre-open: Stocks to edge up as investors mull Nvidia earnings

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to edge up at the open on Thursday, with US chip maker Nvidia in focus after shares fell despite better-than-expected second-quarter earnings, as data centre growth disappointed. The FTSE 100 was called to open around 10 points higher.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "Nvidia revealed its Q2 results yesterday after the closing bell and the numbers were, again, very impressive. The company made $46.7bn in revenue last quarter, broadly in line with expectations - and that without selling any H20 chips to China due to export restrictions. The profit margin climbed back above the 70% mark, and the company guided for $54bn in revenue this quarter - still excluding China, where the outlook remains complicated.

"Not only is the US government willing to take 15% of Nvidia's revenue there, but Chinese buyers are reluctant to purchase American chips. That doesn't mean Nvidia will never sell to China again - on the contrary, CEO Jensen Huang said that selling Blackwell to China is a real possibility. But for now, the company has the luxury of ignoring that opportunity. And note: $54bn in revenue without China would mean a 15% jump in just one quarter. The numbers are gigantic.

"Still, they weren't as gigantic as the most bullish estimates. Nvidia's revenue grew by 56% YoY last quarter, but the growth rate - especially in data centres - slowed sequentially. That explains why Nvidia's stock price fell more than 3% in after-hours trading. Even the announcement of a $60bn share buyback failed to spark a rally."

In corporate news, precision engineering group Hunting held full-year guidance but cautioned that market uncertainty could impact results.

The oil industry specialist posted a jump in half-year core earnings to $70.2m from $60.3m a year earlier against what it called a "volatile" macroeconomic environment and unveiled a $40m share buyback.

IT infrastructure firm Softcat said that it now expected to deliver "high-teens growth" in full-year gross profits and "mid-teens growth" in FY operating profits as it continued to trade "well" during the fourth quarter, supported by further conversion of larger solutions projects.

Softcat also noted that it remains highly cash generative, with FY25 cash conversion expected to be towards the top end of its 85%-95% forecasts.