Report: Nvidia hit by S&P ratings downgrade
Nvidia was hit by a Standard & Poor's ratings downgrade Wednesday, according to a Dow Jones report, adding to the graphics chipmaker's woes.
Standard & Poor's ratings services ratcheted down its outlook on Nvidia from positive to stable, according to Dow Jones. S&P cited concerns about the graphics chipmaker's sinking revenue and profitability.
The ratings agency maintains a junk-level BB- grade on the company, and S&P noted that revenues from Nvidia's recent efforts to expand into cell phones, handheld devices, and supercomputer applications is small, according to Dow Jones. Nvidia also faces new competition from Intel's upcoming Larrabee graphics chip, S&P said.
In addition, Nvidia has been grappling with graphics chip issues on laptops. Apple issued a fix Wednesday for the graphics problems suffered by some owners of the new 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Not everything was bad news for Nvidia Wednesday, however. Ironically, on the same day, Broadpoint AmTech analyst Doug Freedman upgraded Nvidia to "buy" from "neutral" saying that "our checks indicate an improving top-line allowing the company to grow from a larger revenue base...as the trough appears less deep than originally thought," he wrote in a research note.
"Although we remain cautious on gross margin mix we do believe that (operating expenditures) are ahead of expectations, potentially adding leverage to our estimates," Freedman said.
Brooke Crothers has served as an editor at large at CNET News, an editor at Dow Jones' Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, and a senior editor at InfoWorld. His CNET blog covers chip technology and computer systems, and how they define the computing experience. He also contributes to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. Follow Brooke on Twitter @mbrookec. 
- by alenas March 26, 2009 1:16 AM PDT
- Who the f*** cares about stupid ratings these days?
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- by sythara March 26, 2009 6:30 AM PDT
- I disagree. S&P rating is a good way to filter companies as you're doing investment search. Of course if the rating is the only thing you pay attention to then you're in trouble, but its a good overall tool to summarize your research.
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- by Bill_I March 26, 2009 7:45 AM PDT
- All credit rating agencies, Wall Street and consumer, are total garbage. FICO is the worst.
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(3 Comments)Look what ratings did to financial system...Only complete retartds pay any attention to ratings.
S&P should be closed immediately...