Nvidia, Salesforce, HP, Tesla and M&S

Nvidia (NVDA) stock jumped nearly 5% in pre-market trading after the chipmaker posted another blowout quarter, despite limits on how it does business in China.

The company reported revenue of $44.06bn (£32.71bn) for the quarter, beating Wall Street expectations of $43.34bn. Growth was once again driven by its data centre division, which saw sales rise 73% year-on-year. That figure fell slightly short of analyst forecasts.

Adjusted net income climbed to $19.89bn, up 31% from $15.24bn in the same period a year earlier. The result included a $4.5bn charge related to chips developed for the Chinese market, which Nvidia can no longer sell due to tightening US export controls.

For the current quarter, Nvidia projected revenue of $45bn, plus or minus 2% — slightly below analyst expectations of $45.92bn. The company said the guidance reflects an estimated $8bn in lost sales stemming from the restrictions on shipments to China.

In an interview last week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company had already lost $15bn in sales as a result of these rules.

“The $50bn China market is effectively closed to US industry,” Huang said. “The H20 export ban ended our Hopper data center business in China. We cannot reduce Hopper further to comply.”

“We are exploring limited ways to compete, but Hopper is no longer an option,” Huang continued. “China's AI moves on with or without US chips.”

Josh Gilbert, market analyst at investment platform Etoro, said: “In a quarter of uncertainty, Nvidia has reminded markets why it is the cornerstone of the AI revolution with another solid result and upbeat forecast.

“Investors came into this quarter looking for signs that Nvidia could alleviate short-term concerns. What they got was a clear message that demand remains robust, Blackwell is ramping up fast and these results will restore investor confidence.

“Despite the China drag, Nvidia’s top-line strength speaks for itself with $44bn in Q1 sales and another $45bn expected next quarter tells us they’re making up for the China loss elsewhere.”

Shares in Salesforce (CRM) were higher ahead of the US opening bell as the sales and customer service software maker reported upbeat fiscal first-quarter results and guidance.

Revenue for the fiscal first quarter, which ended 30 April, grew 7.6% year over year, the company said in a statement. Net income was $1.54bn, or $1.59 per share, essentially flat compared with $1.53bn, or $1.56 per share, in the same period last year.

For the current quarter, Salesforce projected adjusted earnings per share of $2.76 to $2.78 on revenue of $10.11bn to $10.16bn — ahead of analyst expectations. LSEG consensus had forecast $2.73 in adjusted earnings per share and $10.01bn in revenue.

The company also raised its full-year guidance. It now expects adjusted earnings of $11.27 to $11.33 per share and revenue between $41.0bn and $41.3bn, implying growth of 8% to 9%. Analysts had been looking for $11.16 per share on $40.82bn in revenue. In February, Salesforce forecast adjusted earnings of $11.09 to $11.17 and revenue of $40.5bn to $40.9bn.

Salesforce reiterated its outlook for 9% growth in subscription and support revenue, with some contribution from its Agentforce product.

“Everything went well for us this quarter,” Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff told Yahoo Finance. “We had bookings go well, revenue went well, and currency went well.”

HP (HPQ) shares fell as much as 15% in pre-market trading, standing around 7% lower at the time of writing, after the company reported a weaker-than-expected second quarter, citing the impact of increased tariff costs that dented profitability.

Revenue for the quarter rose 3.3% year over year to $13.22bn, slightly ahead of analyst expectations of $13.14bn. However, net profit fell 17% to $700m compared with the same period last year, missing Wall Street forecasts.

“Due to additional tariff costs that could not be fully mitigated in the quarter, our non-GAAP operating profit fell short of expectations,” HP chief executive Enrique Lores said on the company's earnings call.

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Despite efforts to reduce its exposure to China by shifting production elsewhere, the company's outlook and profit margins disappointed investors.

“We recently increased our production coming from Vietnam, Thailand, India, Mexico, and the US,” Lores said. “By the end of June, we now expect nearly all of our products sold in North America will be built outside of China.”

HP has been working to diversify its supply chain in response to escalating trade tensions and US tariffs on Chinese imports, but the short-term financial impact of the transition continues to weigh on results.

Tesla shares rose in pre-market trading on Thursday after CEO Elon Musk officially confirmed he is stepping down from his role in the Trump administration, ending a brief and controversial stint at the helm of a government reform initiative.

In a post on his social media platform X, the world's richest man thanked Trump for the opportunity to help run the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

The White House began offboarding Musk late on Wednesday. His role was always intended to be temporary, but the timing of his departure — just a day after he publicly criticised a key Trump policy — has drawn attention.

He told CBS News that he was “disappointed” by the domestic policy bill that the president championed and the House passed last week.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” he said.

Shares in the British retailer were lower even as a report showed that it had recorded strong food sales growth in the 12 weeks to 17 May, despite ongoing disruption from a cyberattack that affected operations across the business.

According to industry data released by NielsenIQ, M&S food sales rose 10.8% year-on-year during the period. The retailer also increased its share of the UK grocery market by 20 basis points to 3.8%.

The pace of growth marked a slowdown from the 14.7% increase reported in NielsenIQ’s previous 12-week update, reflecting the impact of the cyber incident that forced M&S (MKS.L) to take several systems offline.

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As part of its response to the attack, the company halted online clothing orders and experienced reduced availability in its food business — leading to higher levels of waste and increased logistics costs.

Last week, M&S warned that the incident would result in a hit of around £300m to its operating profit, with disruption to online services likely to continue until at least July.

NielsenIQ’s figures broadly aligned with those published a day earlier by rival researcher Kantar, which also highlighted strong sales performance from discounters Aldi and Lidl, as well as continued momentum from Tesco (TSCO.L), Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L) and online grocer Ocado (OCDO.L).

Other companies in the news on Thursday 29 May:

Auto Trader (AUTO.L)

Helios Underwriting (HUW.L)

Braemar (BMS.L)

Hollywood Bowl (BOWL.L)

Dell Technologies (DELL)

Grab Holdings (GRAB)

Ulta Beauty (ULTA)

Gap Inc (GAP)

Bath & Body Works (BBWI)

Foot Locker (FL)

Kohls Corp (KSS)