NVIDIA's revenue growth — the trap scales with the move

mentor: Growth is the first number an analyst reads and the easiest to get wrong. You learned the discipline on Apple: a filer restates the prior year inside each new annual reportDefinitionForm 10-KThe audited annual report a US public company files with the SEC — the most complete single document about a business: audited financial statements, management's discussion, risk factors, and the auditor's own opinion. It is the primary source nearly every figure on Echelon grounds to.One 10-K = audited statements + MD&A + risk factors + auditor's reportDrivers: Assurance · Cadence · Restated comparativesFull definition →, so an honest growth figure compares two years from one filing — never numbers stitched across reports on different bases.

The bigger the move, the more that rule matters: a mismatched basis distorts a large change far more than a small one. Below are both years of NVIDIA's revenue from one Form 10-KDefinitionForm 10-KThe audited annual report a US public company files with the SEC — the most complete single document about a business: audited financial statements, management's discussion, risk factors, and the auditor's own opinion. It is the primary source nearly every figure on Echelon grounds to.One 10-K = audited statements + MD&A + risk factors + auditor's reportDrivers: Assurance · Cadence · Restated comparativesFull definition →, via SEC EDGAR. Size the move the honest way.

Revenue growthDefinitionRevenue growthThe change in revenue versus the prior period, as a share of the prior period. It is the first number an analyst reads — and only honest when both years come from the same filing, because each new annual report restates the prior year on the current accounting basis. Stitching figures across different reports compares mismatched bases.Revenue growth = (Revenue − Prior-year revenue) ÷ Prior-year revenueDrivers: Volume · Price · Mix · Acquisitions & currencyFull definition → = (revenue − prior-year revenue) ÷ prior-year revenue — both years from the same filing's restated comparatives.