NEW YORK, Feb 17, 2026, 04:56 EST — Premarket
- Nvidia slipped roughly 2.2% ahead of the bell, with U.S. trading having paused Monday for Presidents Day.
- Some investors are pulling back from megacap tech stocks, uneasy that big AI bets could be slow to deliver returns.
- Nvidia steps up for its quarterly results and conference call on Feb. 25.
Nvidia slipped 2.2% to $182.81 in premarket trade Tuesday, with the stock signaling a softer open. The chipmaker has come to stand in for U.S. bets on AI computing.
Following the holiday pause, U.S. trading picks up again. Wall Street had shut its doors Monday for Presidents Day.
Why now? Investors want to know, plain and simple: when does all this AI spending finally pad profits instead of just swelling budgets? Nvidia is at the heart of this, supplying the chips that power AI.
Valuations have already felt the sting. Nvidia has shed roughly $89.7 billion in market value so far this year as of Friday’s close, Reuters said, reflecting the larger retreat among top tech stocks.
Capital spending—what’s known as “capex”—has been a drag, particularly as companies map out budgets for big-ticket assets like data centers. Take Amazon: earlier this month, the company projected capex would surge by more than 50% this year, stoking fresh jitters among investors about when those outlays might pay off. Reuters
Nvidia shares slipped in premarket trading, coming on the heels of a shift toward hardware supply chain players regarded as more reliable winners from ongoing infrastructure investment. According to Reuters, TSMC and Samsung Electronics have picked up market cap this year, while a number of major U.S. tech names have lost ground.
Nvidia watchers are looking to next week, when the chipmaker is set to announce its fourth-quarter and full-year results for the period ended Jan. 25. The conference call, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. ET, is confirmed by Nvidia.
Management’s tone on demand and customer spending—these are what traders will zero in on, beyond the headline figures. When expectations run high, a cautious outlook can outweigh even a solid beat.
There’s a risk, too. Say customers start holding off on orders or push back their data-center expansion plans—Nvidia could see revenue growth stall in the short run. That would leave the stock’s lofty valuation more vulnerable to missteps.
Nvidia’s Feb. 25 earnings release and call is up next, likely to shake up expectations for this quarter and possibly spring as well.
