NVIDIA to Return $1 Billion to Shareholders in Current Fiscal Year

tommybhoy · 14 Apr 2013 at 23:58

Stanners said:
Someone one said that amd were massively outselling nvidia the other day, I did search for anything on it and could not find it.

Hmm, that's not what I said when you asked me:

Stanners said:
Where did you get the sales figures from?, I have tried for a while to find somewhere giving this information but with no luck(Probably looking in the wrong places!)

tommybhoy said:
It was on Hardware Canucks iirc and a few other places, there were a few articles around the place at the same time stating that AMD were outselling Nvidia for the first time over the Christmas period which was all down to the bundles/pricing.

Not very good at searching considering I made it easy enough telling you where to look.

Back in late October, AMD unveiled a promotion which shook the graphics card market to its core. By offering up to three free games with the purchase of an HD 7900-series card or two free games alongside two slightly lower end GPUs, they dramatically enhanced the popularity of their entire lineup.

Did AMD’s initiative work work? We’d say so since according to our channel sources, sales of certain Radeon SKUs nearly doubled during the busy pre-Christmas season. At one point, the HD 7970 GHz Edition was outselling the GTX 680, the first time an AMD card had accomplished such a feat since Kepler was released.

Unless I'm directly quoted and feel the need, I'll leave it at that.

Jokester · 15 Apr 2013 at 00:04

Rroff said:
I think world of warcraft is a lot to blame hah, I notice at work whenever <insert non-GPU-enthusiast general member of the public> WoW player is looking to upgrade their GPU for the next expansion they are almost always talking about nVidia cards as if they are the only graphics cards that exist. I'm guessings the branding is splashed all over that game (not played it myself).

Nvidia cards are (or at least were back when I played) the better performance option for WoW, so if you were buying a card specifically to play WoW on, Nvidia was the option to go for.

andybird123 · 15 Apr 2013 at 00:05

"at one point"

Bodom · 15 Apr 2013 at 01:51

Rroff said:
I think world of warcraft is a lot to blame hah, I notice at work whenever <insert non-GPU-enthusiast general member of the public> WoW player is looking to upgrade their GPU for the next expansion they are almost always talking about nVidia cards as if they are the only graphics cards that exist. I'm guessings the branding is splashed all over that game (not played it myself).

.

WoW doesn't have any GPU branding, but for along time Nvidia had a big performance advantage over ATI/AMD cards there sill faster in WoW but not there's hardly anything in it these days, also you get a lot of people on the forums that will only recommend Nvidia cards when people are asking about upgrading there PC.

Then you have the general ignorance of people as well, was talking about PC upgrades on vent a few months back with some guys from the guild a couple of them are programmers and 1 of them works in software tech support and when I told them that I went for a 7970 one of them called me a noob and started going on about Nvidia was a lot faster and I had wasted my money and the others agreed with him, and these are supposedly tech savvy people all of them build there own PC's you would think they would do there research before buying a new GPU but one of them did admit that he never even looks at AMD cards when looking for an upgrade just goes for what ever Nvidia card is in his price range.

But I did shut them up in the end after linking a few reviews and benchmarks

Rroff · 15 Apr 2013 at 02:00

Stanners said:
Someone one said that amd were massively outselling nvidia the other day, I did search for anything on it and could not find it. Does anyone know the actual figures?

It'll depend a bit on what part of the market and what outlets your looking at - if you took the data from say OcUK you'd probably see AMD taking a pretty substantial chunk but start throwing in highstreet retailers, more generalised e-tailers, etc. and the story changes.

The Slayer_UK · 15 Apr 2013 at 08:15

andybird123 said:
doesn't have any video outputs, so can't run games full stop

Ah well that easily anwsers my question lol thanks

ubersonic · 15 Apr 2013 at 10:09

Jokester said:
Nvidia cards are (or at least were back when I played) the better performance option for WoW, so if you were buying a card specifically to play WoW on, Nvidia was the option to go for.

This pretty much, Nvidia's performance advantage in WoW basically means that the "Nvidia tax" disappears, so by comparison AMD are the same price for the same performance but with a lesser brand name and worse drivers, very hard for anyone to recommend buying AMD for WoW usage unless you play a lot of other stuff too.

andybird123 · 15 Apr 2013 at 10:13

tommybhoy said:
Unless I'm directly quoted and feel the need, I'll leave it at that.

Quote:
Back in late October, AMD unveiled a promotion which shook the graphics card market to its core. By offering up to three free games with the purchase of an HD 7900-series card or two free games alongside two slightly lower end GPUs, they dramatically enhanced the popularity of their entire lineup.

Did AMD’s initiative work work? We’d say so since according to our channel sources, sales of certain Radeon SKUs nearly doubled during the busy pre-Christmas season. At one point, the HD 7970 GHz Edition was outselling the GTX 680, the first time an AMD card had accomplished such a feat since Kepler was released.
Unless I'm directly quoted and feel the need, I'll leave it at that.

Click to expand...

so if you are the CEO of AMD, are you ok with having 30% market share in graphics cards overall, and making massive losses compared with massive profits, because an IT "news" site says that 7970 outsold 680 in the run up to christmas

dave_beast · 15 Apr 2013 at 10:47

andybird123 said:
so if you are the CEO of AMD, are you ok with having 30% market share in graphics cards overall, and making massive losses compared with massive profits, because an IT "news" site says that 7970 outsold 680 in the run up to christmas

Remind me, what brand GPU most current and future consoles will be using again?

Havana_UK · 15 Apr 2013 at 11:33

dave_beast said:
Remind me, what brand GPU most current and future consoles will be using again?

It's interesting because AMD are currently busy promoting themselves as the company that cares about PC gamers, and they are the ones dedicated to working closely with the studios to ensure optimal performance on AMD. This is all being spearheaded by Roy Taylor, who in the past masterminded and ran TWIMTBP for nVidia.

Also, both Andy and Dave, GPU sales in the PC market and GPU sales in the console market are very different. I can tell you with certainty that AMD are not happy with their share of the PC market and are working hard to change it. They are, however, extremely pleased with their design wins in the next gen consoles and this will give them a strong base of GPU sales on which to build sales in the PC market.

illuz · 15 Apr 2013 at 11:42

I think AMD are doing great in the GPU side of things, but they need to up their game in the processor side. They're still going down and are making no-where near as much as the competition.

andybird123 · 15 Apr 2013 at 11:53

dave_beast said:
Remind me, what brand GPU most current and future consoles will be using again?

and we'll see how much money they lose on supplying those too

layte · 15 Apr 2013 at 12:57

dave_beast said:
Remind me, what brand GPU most current and future consoles will be using again?

The margins on those parts will be razor thin. AMD are not going to be making big bucks from those contracts, much like they haven't made bank from the 360 and Wii(U).

tommybhoy · 15 Apr 2013 at 14:36

andybird123 said:
so if you are the CEO of AMD, are you ok with having 30% market share in graphics cards overall, and making massive losses compared with massive profits, because an IT "news" site says that 7970 outsold 680 in the run up to christmas

Must have been a coincidence:

In a bid to tackle post-X'mas slump in sales, particularly affecting its low-volume high-end products, NVIDIA reportedly concerted price-cuts for its single-GPU flagship graphics card, the GeForce GTX 680

http://www.techpowerup.com/178795/NVIDIA-Lowers-Price-of-GeForce-GTX-680.html

Must have been a coincidence 2:

AMD's Never Settle Reloaded may have ruffled a few feathers at NVIDIA, which responded with a game deal of its own. Although not featuring some of the biggest AAA titles of the season, such as Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider (2013), or DmC Devil May Cry; it gives buyers of new GeForce GTX graphics cards $75~$150 worth in-game currency in three of the biggest free-to-play online multiplayer titles, Planetside 2, Hawken, and World of Tanks.

http://www.techpowerup.com/180058/NVIDIA-Outs-Free-2-Play-Bundle-with-GeForce-GTX-GPUs.html

Must have been a coincidence 3:

Game bundle wars between NVIDIA and AMD have been a one-sided contest in favor of the latter, with AMD bundling the hottest AAA titles with its Radeon hardware, compared to NVIDIA offering in-game currency on popular free-to-play games. Following news of AMD stepping up its "Never Settle Reloaded" with Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon on all GPUs upwards of Radeon HD 7750, we've learned that NVIDIA is frantically responding by preparing to give away Metro: Last Light with all GeForce GPUs upwards of the $200 GTX 660. The bundle will go live from April 16th.

http://www.techpowerup.com/182704/N...ast-Light-with-GeForce-GTX-660-and-Above.html

Do you know why companies enter into share buyback andy?

'Share Repurchase'
Because a share repurchase reduces the number of shares outstanding (i.e. supply), it increases earnings per share and tends to elevate the market value of the remaining shares. When a company does repurchase shares, it will usually say something along the lines of, "We find no better investment than our own company."

'Buyback'
The repurchase of outstanding shares (repurchase) by a company in order to reduce the number of shares on the market. Companies will buy back shares either to increase the value of shares still available (reducing supply), or to eliminate any threats by shareholders who may be looking for a controlling stake.

It's not necessarily for positive reasons-it very well maybe, but it could be brought on by negative reasons-unless any of us are Nvidia investors that do know the actual reasons, we'll never know if it's a positive or negative step.

On the topic of razer thin profits of consoles, ~250 Million razer thin profits that increase as the years go by are all going towards AMD if this gens sales numbers are anything to go by.

Which regardless if any of the above is positive or not for any of all the above points, it makes no odds to 'Joe gamer' at the end of the day.

Phixsator · 15 Apr 2013 at 15:09

ubersonic said:
This pretty much, Nvidia's performance advantage in WoW basically means that the "Nvidia tax" disappears, so by comparison AMD are the same price for the same performance but with a lesser brand name and worse drivers, very hard for anyone to recommend buying AMD for WoW usage unless you play a lot of other stuff too.

Worse drivers? are you really going to bark up that tree again.. *sigh*. First AMDs drivers havent been bad in a very long time. Second, having played WoW since the early US beta running everything from ATI 9200, ATI x1900xtx, 8800GTX, 260 GTX SLI, Radeon 5850, 560 ti sli and now 7950 crossfire it was never about the GPU horsepower or the drivers, atleast not for me. The limiting factor was always the CPU i ran the game on. Radeon has always been a pleasure in WoW (just as nvidia has been), so please do not state your own experience as a global fact affacting everyone.

Also one has to remember that the average WoW gamer isnt exactly what you call a tech guy/gal. Most of the guys screaming at the tech forums know absolutely nothing about anything pc related. Ive seen so many "gaming" machines filled to the brink with crap and nonsense (spyware, malware, bloatware) causing games to run like dog ***p, only to have the owner yelling at the hardware cause it cant be him thats the cause right?

andybird123 · 15 Apr 2013 at 15:20

tommybhoy said:
Must have been a coincidence:

yes, because a few posts on a glorified blog have so much impact on what is actually going on in the market

and no tommy, clearly I know nothing about shares, thanks for enlightening me :rolleyes:

wolvers · 15 Apr 2013 at 15:50

Looks like share buy back to me, Tegra's not yet as good as everyone had hoped and they've probably plunged a fair bit of R&D into it.

This should be in the Business section of the forum really.

Gregster · 15 Apr 2013 at 20:16

Nvidia Looks Vulnerable After Nexus Loss...

While its discrete graphics card business is still relatively strong, this is a market that, overall, will continue to shrink in the coming months and years.

Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/...ss/4/15/2013/id/48972?page=full#ixzz2QYr8m3hf

Graphics chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is in a difficult position long term. While its discrete graphics card business is still relatively strong, taking market share in 2012 from rival AMD (NYSE:AMD), this is a market that, overall, will continue to shrink in the coming months and years. To its credit Nvidia has attempted to move into different markets, most notably the low-power mobile SoC (system on a chip) market with its Tegra line of ARM-based solutions. Now, it is in the process of launching its fourth generation of the Tegra based on the Cortex A-15 core, for which early benchmarks are long on big numbers and short on context. The news last month confirming rumors that the company would not be supplying the SoC at the heart of the next Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Nexus 7 tablet deals a serious blow to the company’s projected sales for the rest of 2013.

In response to that there was a flurry of press releases and announcements by the firm, which are obvious damage control to tout some wins for its GriD cloud fabric and unveil some more information about the Tegra 5. Of course, the Tegra 4 is not due for a few months yet and this, along with its cost and lack of internal LTE made the choice an easy one for Google. Really, the Nexus 7 originally went to Nvidia’s Tegra 3 because Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon S4 rollout was delayed due to 28nm problems at TSMC (NYSE:TSM). Once TSMC’s problems were solved, Nvidia’s delays in getting the Tegra 4 out the door ensured that Qualcomm would get the contract.

The Nexus represented fully 60% of Nvidia’s Tegra 3 sales in 2012. Here we are in 2013 and the company does not have shipping silicon to compete with the Cortex A15-level SoC’s powering tablet and phones now. Its Tegra 4i – a Cortex A9 quad core SoC – will not be shipping now until Q1 2014, and there is nothing unique about the SoC . With these delays and, frankly, lack of comparative advantage over its competition, it is no wonder that the stock price has been incapable of rallying.

The rally above $13 to close last week is an important short-term technical signal built on the firm’s announced share buyback in addition to its dividend program. When your revenues are due to be flat and your next mobile SoC will use last year’s cores -- albeit with an integrated LTE modem -- paying shareholders to wait is a good PR strategy to support the stock price. Given the continued disconnect between stock prices and market fundamentals, this is an environment conducive to bullish trading signals.

One of the bullish arguments for Nvidia at these prices is the company’s $3.73 billion cash reserves, which translates into more than $6 per share of the price of the stock. However, conversion of that cash into treasury is not adding shareholder growth potential but rather supporting those willing to hold through a year that has little good to offer them. This is especially true in a market making new all-time high after all-time high

Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/...ss/4/15/2013/id/48972?page=full#ixzz2QYqeg44Z

Looking at the current situation as of the close on April 12, NVDA, to end Q1, put in a very impressive engulfing reversal bar (#1) which took the stock back to $12.80 and negated the 2-week downtrend that threatened to take the stock back towards $12 per share. Normally, that would be a bullish sign, but the lack of follow-through the next week called that into question. During the first two trading days of April the stock has sold off with extreme prejudice, violating last week’s low and confirming that, at best, the stock is rangebound between $11.95 and $13.15 per share.

Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/...ss/4/15/2013/id/48972?page=full#ixzz2QYqlmPso

But, that signal has now been negated by the announcement of the expansion of the share buyback program which began back in November. It is easy to spot the support in the price of the stock every time it approaches $12 per share. I would suspect from the chart action here that Nvidia is a buyer of its own stock at this level. This may be the reason for the long tails on the weekly candles (black arrows).

One of the effects of the share buyback has also been to dampen volatility in the stock. Below is a table of the weekly trading statistics for Nvidia. For the period these statistics cover (165 weeks) the average weekly price envelope (High to Low) has been $1.29. It is clear that since November the price volatility weekly has been far less than that. I also note that the short interest in Nvidia rose sharply after the buyback began. So, it looks like the stock is trapped between the company supporting the stock from below and short-sellers capping it below $13.20.

Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/...ss/4/15/2013/id/48972?page=full#ixzz2QYqvGmFd

Where are we now? The stock closed above $13.00 last week (#2) at $13.09, which would have been my initial target for a bullish breakout. But, the stock could not muster the strength to close above the December high at $13.19. There is a ~79% chance of a $0.15 move which would break the high from the week of April 8 to April 12, and on that occurring would limit the size of any downside reversal. A close this week above that price should bring in momentum players and induce some short selling and create the opportunity for a rally. If we see a weekly close above that price, it would bode well for a more significant move higher, especially if April closes above that level.

But, fundamentally, the company is on shaky ground while the stock is being actively supported in price. Right now, the bullish general market environment is Nvidia’s best chance to see a rally for the rest of 2013. If it does not happen the current rangebound activity will likely continue.

Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/...ss/4/15/2013/id/48972?page=full#ixzz2QYr35kXR

That should bring a smile to a few faces.

melmac · 16 Apr 2013 at 00:21

We know that already Greg, well some of us did. It was the reason they did the billion dollar return to stock holders because of falling share prices due to their tegra announcement.

And why the inflammatory statement at the end?

DarrenM343 · 16 Apr 2013 at 12:20

Considering their profits and our interest in GFX cards, anyone else dabble in these shares? In the past I've made enough to pay for a decent graphics card upgrade. Consider them high risk though (as are most tech stocks) so only invest reasonably small amounts. THink the long term potential for Nvidia is pretty good.
Shares look low but I think fear of competition (on-chip gfx) and failing demand for PC's not helping, although of course they make more than just PC graphics cards.

Recently started paying a dividend too.