NEW YORK, Feb 19, 2026, 10:02 (EST) — Regular session
- Nvidia shares slipped early, giving back some of Wednesday’s Meta-fueled gains.
- Demand stays front and center as Meta announces a new supply deal and AI investment stories hit the wires.
- Feb. 25 results and guidance loom, and traders are on edge.
Nvidia shares slipped roughly 0.7% to $186.73 early Thursday, giving back some ground after rallying in the previous session on news of a new customer deal.
Here’s the crux: Nvidia’s earnings drop next week, right as the market debates if the AI buildout is picking up speed or just racking up costs. The stock? It’s turned into a fast gauge for conviction in major data center investments.
Investors have their eyes on Nvidia, looking to see if the company will continue expanding beyond its traditional graphics chips into the broader infrastructure—what some call the “plumbing”—powering today’s data centers. The shift isn’t happening overnight; it’s a longer process than rolling out a new product, yet it could fundamentally alter how much of the market is up for grabs.
The major U.S. indexes stumbled out of the gate Thursday, with tech giants weighing on the market after the S&P 500’s three-day climb. Nasdaq shed 0.5% at the open; the S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, according to Reuters. (Reuters)
Nvidia on Tuesday announced a multiyear agreement to provide Meta Platforms with millions of AI chips, including its existing Blackwell line and the upcoming Rubin series, as well as Grace and Vera CPUs—products that go head-to-head with Intel and AMD. Meta, for its part, is working on its own AI chip designs and has reportedly talked with Google about deploying Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs, for certain tasks. Ian Buck, who heads Nvidia’s hyperscale and high-performance computing segment, described Meta’s initial Vera tests as “very promising.” (Reuters)
The drumbeat of demand kept going. Yotta Data Services out of India announced plans to pour more than $2 billion into Nvidia’s newest chips, aiming to set up an AI computing hub. The company expects to roll out upwards of 20,000 Blackwell Ultra chips by August. Nvidia is on track to reserve half of those over a four-year stretch for its DGX AI cloud service. (Reuters)
Analysts aren’t shying away from this one. Oppenheimer’s Rick Schafer expects Nvidia to post what he calls a “typical” $2 billion to $3 billion beat against Street sales forecasts, pointing to $65.6 billion for the January quarter and $71.6 billion for April. (Seeking Alpha)
Nvidia jumped 1.6% Wednesday, buoyed by the Meta deal, giving Wall Street a lift as buyers circled back to certain AI-heavy megacaps following recent valuation worries. “They were expensive and they’ve gotten cheaper,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. (Reuters)
Still, risk is never far off. Major clients are rolling out custom silicon, trying out other options. When spending plans wobble—even a little—that’s trouble for a stock counting on top-tier results. Sometimes, just a cautious forecast stings more than solid numbers.
NVIDIA Corporation is set to release its fourth-quarter figures on Feb. 25. The company’s conference call kicks off at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET). Wall Street will be tuned in for any updates on the April-quarter forecast, plus fresh commentary on customer demand and ongoing supply constraints. (NVIDIA Investor Relations)
