Nvidia after a 13% week: what the numbers say before Tuesday's earnings
Nvidia lost its chief executive days before results, after a slide of about 30% since early October. The numbers, the leadership question and the Tuesday test.
Six weeks down, about $1.7 trillion gone
Nvidia shares fell 12.8% this week to $162.85, the biggest weekly drop since April 2025 and the sixth straight weekly decline, the longest streak since 2012, CNBC reported. The stock fell more than 13% at Thursday’s open before closing down 4.3% at $166.19, then slipped another 2.0% on Friday. It has lost about 30% of its value since the slide began in early October, roughly $1.7 trillion in market value, and its market value closed below $4 trillion for the first time since July 2025.
The slide began before the leadership crisis. Nvidia had already fallen for five straight weeks on concern about data center spending, rising interest rates and a Democratic midterm sweep that investors read as a risk to the AI buildout. The resignation then turned a valuation debate into a leadership question, and the selling spread: the PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 3.4% on Friday even as it finished the week up 8.1%, with money moving into rivals AMD and Broadcom.
- 12.8% weekly dropWorst week since April 2025
- Six straight weekly declinesLongest streak since 2012
- About $1.7 trillionValue lost since early October
- $108.9 billionExpected quarterly revenue, up 91%
- $2.47 per shareExpected earnings, up 90%
The leadership question
The board accepted Jensen Huang’s resignation as president, chief executive and director on November 11, effective immediately, and the company announced the change the next morning, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Chief financial officer Colette Kress was named interim chief executive, and director Harvey C. Jones, a board member since 1993, was named the company’s first chair. The board said it would consider internal and external candidates for the permanent job.
Wall Street moved fast. HSBC cut Nvidia to hold from buy on Friday and lowered its target to $170 from $365, saying the shares face pressure until a permanent chief executive is named. ‘We believe the uncertainties will prevail until a permanent succession plan is laid out and the new CEO is able to demonstrate execution capabilities,’ HSBC analyst Frank Lee wrote, CNBC reported. CNBC also reported that HSBC joined other firms that lowered ratings on the stock this week, including Truist, Evercore ISI, William Blair, Oppenheimer and Bernstein.
Not every analyst sees lasting damage. Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson said: ‘We believe the market has appropriately adjusted for this transition.’ Oppenheimer analysts were more cautious, writing that ‘we expect fundamentals to take a backseat near term’ and that Huang’s departure could mean ‘a lingering share overhang’. On Thursday, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Apple chief executive Tim Cook should become Nvidia’s permanent chief executive, Yahoo Finance reported. In Washington, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott summoned Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify in December, and the chairs of three House committees required closed-door interviews on December 1 and December 2.
The business test on Tuesday
Nvidia reports fiscal third-quarter results on Tuesday, November 17, after the close, its first report under Kress. FactSet estimates see the company earning $2.47 a share, up 90% from a year earlier, on sales of $108.7 billion, up 91%, Investor’s Business Daily reported. CNBC reported analysts expect revenue of $108.9 billion, up 91% from a year earlier and up 18-fold from the same quarter in 2022, just before OpenAI launched ChatGPT. The company itself guided to revenue of about $108 billion.
The numbers land as the debate about AI demand sharpens. Goldman Sachs said the midterm results pose only modest risks to AI investment, for now, and still sees spending on AI-related hardware coming in around $1.4 trillion by the end of next year, CNBC reported. Rivals are already benefiting: AMD rose 18.9% for the week and Broadcom 18.2%, and Broadcom reported AI semiconductor revenue of $16.7 billion in its latest quarter, up 221% from a year earlier, with a forecast of $21.7 billion for the current quarter. The question for Tuesday is whether the business underneath the leadership shock is still growing at the pace the market had assumed — and what the new leadership says about demand, supply and China.
Sources
- CNBC, 2026-11-13
- CNBC, 2026-11-13
- Investor's Business Daily, 2026-11-14
- SEC, 2026-11-12
- Yahoo Finance, 2026-11-13
