Chipmaker Nvidia reported another quarter of beating expectations and raising its guidance, sending its stock higher in Thursday trading. However, the company’s fiscal second‑quarter 2027 results include warning signs that investors should monitor. A surge in accounts receivable has Nvidia’s net accounts receivable jump about 63% from $38.5 billion to $63.1 billion between January and July, reflecting a sharp rise in orders that have been fulfilled but not yet paid for. “It’s worth keeping an eye on,” said Gil Luria, head of tech research at D.A. Davidson, on CNBC. “The numbers are so big and they’re making really big commitments way out into the future.” Investment banks project the receivables will continue to climb dramatically. Bank of America expects the figure to rise to roughly $113 billion in 2028 and $147 billion in 2029, a 107% increase over two years. Morgan Stanley forecasts an even higher total, projecting $171 billion by January 2029, up from an estimated $78.6 billion in 2027—a 117% increase. Moreover, Nvidia disclosed that just “five direct customers” accounted for 70% of its accounts receivable, up from three customers representing 56% a year earlier. This concentration underscores reliance on a few major cloud‑computing giants.
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s commitments to customers and suppliers have more than doubled, climbing from $119 billion in Q1 to $279 billion in Q2, driven largely by memory‑chip component needs, according to Citi. Analysts at Goldman Sachs called the obligations “substantial,” noting they sit alongside the $500 billion financing deal announced earlier this month with a group of private‑equity firms. “Management noted its substantial financial commitments in support of customers, which total $366 bn across supply/capacity commitments ($279 bn, largely memory), cloud service agreements ($29 bn), datacenter leases ($25 bn), equity investments ($25 bn), and CapEx ($5 bn),” James Schneider of Goldman Sachs wrote.
The balance‑sheet pressure is also evident in Nvidia’s free cash flow, which fell to $21 billion in the quarter from $49 billion in the first quarter—well below the consensus estimate of around $43 billion. “Free cash flow of $21.4 billion was well below the consensus expectation of ~ $43 billion,” wrote William Stein of Truist Securities, attributing the drop to extended payment terms for large customers. “A/R DSO went +15 days q/q as NVDA offered extended payment terms to investment‑grade customers,” he noted. Some observers, like Paul Meeks of Freedom Capital Markets, view the rise as temporary, linking it to an “aggressive … ramp” in deployments of Nvidia’s new Vera Rubin chip systems.