Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Market indexes were a bit rangebound today, finishing in the green but at lower levels than at which they started the trading session. The Dow closed up +47 points, +0.10%, while the S&P 500 was up +24 points, +0.38%. The Nasdaq finished the day +131 points, +0.59%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 dipped just into the red as of the closing bell: -0.86 points, -0.04% — call it breakeven.
A Tale of Two Tech Giants: NVDA and PANW
Reporting earnings after today’s close are two of the biggest tech firms in their selective niches, NVIDIA NVDA and Palo Alto Networks PANW. In NVIDIA’s case, their “niche” is basically everything AI infrastructure touches — which goes a long way toward explaining how it has wound up with a market cap of $4.5 trillion — while for Palo Alto it is a cybersecurity play.
Both companies beat estimates on their bottom lines: NVIDIA reported Q3 earnings of $1.30 per share versus $1.24 expected; Palo Alto made it to 94 cents per share in its fiscal Q1 versus projections for 89 cents. Top-lines were $57.0 billion for NVIDIA — a new all-time record high — and $2.50 billion for PANW. Guidance for next quarter and the full fiscal year were also raised for both companies.
Pretty much, that’s where the similarities end. Because while Palo Alto Networks grew revenues by +16% year over year for the quarter, NVIDIA — remember, the largest company by market cap the world has ever seen — grew revenues +62% from last year’s Q3. Non-GAAP gross margins for the semiconductor giant reached an astounding +73.6%, with an outperformance in its Blackwell chips that not all analysts expected.
Thus, NVIDIA shares are up +4.5% at this hour in the late session. Palo Alto’s are -3.0% currently. This is not to say PANW disappointed in any way in this quarterly report, but at 54x earnings, it didn’t exactly blow the doors off expectations. But that’s what NVIDIA did, with record $51.2 billion in its Data Center segment, which amounted to +25% growth quarter over quarter, and +66% year over year. Gaming was down -1% to $4.3 billion quarter over quarter, but that’s still +30% from a year ago.
Both companies represent the best the 21st century has to offer so far. Both are, naturally, based in Silicon Valley but represent a global segment of technology growth. But when it comes down to it, for now and into the foreseeable future, there is still only one NVIDIA.
Questions or comments about this article and/or author? Click here>>
#1 Semiconductor Stock to Buy (Not NVDA)
The incredible demand for data is fueling the market's next digital gold rush. As data centers continue to be built and constantly upgraded, the companies that provide the hardware for these behemoths will become the NVIDIAs of tomorrow.
One under-the-radar chipmaker is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the next growth stage of this market. It specializes in semiconductor products that titans like NVIDIA don't build. It's just beginning to enter the spotlight, which is exactly where you want to be.
See This Stock Now for Free >>NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
