NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Net Operating Profit After Taxes (NOPAT)

The net operating profit after taxes exhibited a general upward trajectory from 2020 to 2025, increasing significantly from $2,792 million to $68,707 million. The data shows an initial steady rise until 2022, peaking at $9,602 million, followed by a notable decline in 2023 to $2,334 million. After this dip, an exceptional surge occurred in 2024 and continued into 2025, with NOPAT exceeding $27,000 million and then rising dramatically to $68,707 million.

Cost of Capital

The cost of capital remained relatively stable over the period, fluctuating very slightly around the 21.3% to 21.8% range. This consistency suggests a steady rate used for evaluating investment and performance dynamics, without significant variation in perceived risk or capital costs.

Invested Capital

Invested capital showed a strong increasing trend throughout the timeframe, starting at $14,224 million in 2020 and rising consistently to reach $47,433 million by 2025. This steady growth in invested capital reflects ongoing reinvestment or expansion efforts, contributing to the scaling of the company's asset base or operational capacity.

Economic Profit

Economic profit presented a more volatile pattern in comparison to other metrics. It started negative in 2020 (-$270 million), turned positive and rose sharply to $1,603 million in 2021 and $5,725 million in 2022. However, it dropped back to a negative figure (-$2,252 million) in 2023, likely reflecting the decline in NOPAT during the same period. Following this trough, economic profit experienced a dramatic rebound with considerable gains in 2024 ($21,064 million) and 2025 ($58,390 million), aligning with the substantial increase in net operating profit.

Overall Trends and Insights

The financial data indicates an overall positive growth trajectory with significant increases in profitability and invested capital over the five-year span. Despite short-term declines in both NOPAT and economic profit in 2023, the company displayed strong recovery and exponential growth by 2024 and 2025. The stable cost of capital underlines consistent financial conditions or cost structures, while the fluctuations in economic profit highlight sensitivity to operational performance changes. The exceptional rise in profitability measures in the last two years suggests substantial operational improvements, enhanced efficiency, or favorable market conditions driving value creation beyond capital costs.

The financial data reveals significant fluctuations and overall growth in key profitability metrics over the observed periods.

Net Income

The net income shows a general upward trend from January 26, 2020, to January 26, 2025, starting at $2,796 million and increasing markedly to $72,880 million. A notable surge occurs between January 29, 2023 ($4,368 million) and January 28, 2024 ($29,760 million), followed by a further sharp increase to $72,880 million in the subsequent period. Despite a dip after January 30, 2022 ($9,752 million) down to $4,368 million by January 29, 2023, the overall trajectory is strongly positive.

Net Operating Profit After Taxes (NOPAT)

NOPAT values follow a similar pattern to net income, starting at $2,792 million in January 26, 2020 and increasing substantially by January 26, 2025 to $68,707 million. This metric also exhibits a decline from $9,602 million in January 30, 2022 to $2,334 million in January 29, 2023, before recovering dramatically to $27,819 million in January 28, 2024 and continuing to grow significantly in the final period.

Overall, the data indicates periods of volatility around early 2023, with decreases in profitability metrics, followed by a strong recovery and exceptional growth leading into 2024 and 2025. This suggests that while the company experienced some operational and financial challenges in the mid-period, it managed to capitalize on conditions or strategic initiatives leading to a substantial increase in profitability towards the end of the analysis window.

Income tax expense (benefit)

Over the analyzed periods, the income tax expense exhibits a volatile trend. Initially, it decreased from 174 million US dollars in early 2020 to 77 million in early 2021, followed by an increase to 189 million in early 2022. The figure then shifted to a negative value (-187 million) in early 2023, indicating a tax benefit during that year. Subsequently, there was a sharp and substantial increase to 4,058 million in early 2024, which further escalated to 11,146 million in early 2025, reflecting significantly rising tax expenses in the most recent years.

Cash operating taxes

Cash operating taxes demonstrate a consistent and pronounced upward trend throughout the period. Starting at 134 million US dollars in early 2020, the cash taxes increased steadily each year, reaching 390 million in 2021, 643 million in 2022, and 1,983 million in 2023. The upward trajectory accelerates substantially in the final years analyzed, with cash operating taxes rising to 6,430 million in early 2024 and then more than doubling to 15,316 million by early 2025. This indicates a growing cash tax outflow from operations over the years under review.

Total Reported Debt & Leases

The total reported debt and leases demonstrated a marked increase from 2,643 million USD in early 2020 to a peak of 12,031 million USD by early 2023, reflecting a significant rise in financial obligations over this period. Subsequently, a downward trend is observed, with the amount decreasing to 11,056 million USD in early 2024 and further to 10,270 million USD by early 2025. Despite this recent reduction, the debt level remains substantially elevated compared to the 2020 baseline.

Shareholders’ Equity

Shareholders’ equity exhibited strong and consistent growth throughout the timeframe. Starting at 12,204 million USD in early 2020, it increased to 16,893 million USD by early 2021, followed by a substantial surge to 26,612 million USD in early 2022. While a slight decline occurred in early 2023, falling to 22,101 million USD, equity then rose sharply to 42,978 million USD in 2024 and reached an impressive 79,327 million USD by early 2025. This upward trajectory indicates a significant accumulation of net assets and possibly improved retained earnings or capital inflows.

Invested Capital

Invested capital showed fluctuation early in the period, declining from 14,224 million USD in early 2020 to 13,232 million USD in early 2021 before ascending steadily to 18,075 million USD in early 2022. This growth continued, reaching 21,396 million USD in early 2023, followed by a notable increase to 31,144 million USD in 2024. The trend culminated with a substantial rise to 47,433 million USD by early 2025. This progression implies increased investment in operational assets or expansion activities over time.

Summary

Overall, the data reveal a strategy characterized by elevated leveraging during the initial years, followed by gradual deleveraging beginning in 2023. Concurrently, both shareholders’ equity and invested capital have grown robustly, with equity growth outpacing that of debt, indicating strengthening financial stability and capital base. The significant rise in invested capital aligns with the reported equity increase, suggesting sustained investment in growth and asset development. These patterns collectively point to an expansion phase supported by increased capital investments alongside active management of debt levels.

The financial data reveals significant fluctuations and notable growth trends over the examined periods.

Economic Profit

Economic profit exhibited considerable volatility. It started at a negative value of -270 million US$ in early 2020, sharply increased to 1,603 million US$ in early 2021, and further surged to 5,725 million US$ in early 2022. Subsequently, there was a notable decline into negative territory at -2,252 million US$ in early 2023. However, the most recent years saw a substantial recovery and expansion, with economic profit reaching 21,064 million US$ in early 2024 and further climbing to 58,390 million US$ by early 2025. This pattern indicates periods of both contraction and accelerated profitability, culminating in strong economic gains towards the end of the series.

Invested Capital

Invested capital showed a consistent upward trend across the periods analyzed. Beginning at 14,224 million US$ in early 2020, invested capital experienced a slight dip to 13,232 million US$ in early 2021 before increasing steadily to reach 18,075 million US$ in early 2022. This growth accelerated thereafter, with invested capital rising to 21,396 million US$ in early 2023, then to 31,144 million US$ in early 2024, and culminating at 47,433 million US$ in early 2025. The increasing invested capital suggests ongoing expansion and greater resource commitment over the time frame.

Economic Spread Ratio

The economic spread ratio mirrored the volatility seen in economic profit but with even more pronounced swings. Initially negative at -1.9% in early 2020, it sharply increased to 12.11% in early 2021 and then jumped significantly to 31.68% in early 2022. There was a subsequent decline to a negative -10.53% in early 2023, indicating a period of economic distress or inefficiency. Remarkably, the ratio recovered dramatically in the following years, reaching 67.63% in early 2024 and peaking at 123.1% in early 2025. The wide fluctuations point to alternating phases of high returns on invested capital and temporary setbacks, with an overall strong upward trajectory in recent years.

In summary, the data highlights a pattern of initial instability with negative economic profit and spread ratios followed by strong improvement and growth in both profitability and capital efficiency. The substantial increases in economic profit and economic spread ratio in the most recent periods indicate enhanced value creation and improved performance relative to the invested capital base.

Economic Profit

Economic profit exhibited significant fluctuations over the analyzed periods. Starting from a negative value of -270 million US dollars in January 2020, it rose sharply to 1603 million in January 2021 and further increased to 5725 million by January 2022. However, this positive trend was interrupted in January 2023 with a considerable decline to -2252 million. Subsequently, the economic profit rebounded dramatically to 21064 million in January 2024 and surged further to 58390 million in January 2025. This pattern indicates periods of substantial profitability interrupted by volatility, followed by a strong recovery and pronounced growth in the most recent years.

Adjusted Revenue

Adjusted revenue followed a consistent and substantial growth trajectory throughout the periods. Beginning at 10981 million US dollars in January 2020, it increased steadily each year, reaching 16925 million in January 2021, 26965 million in January 2022, and 27044 million in January 2023. Subsequently, revenue almost doubled to 61687 million in January 2024 and more than doubled again to 130973 million in January 2025. This reflects robust expansion of revenue generation capacity over the years, with a notable acceleration in growth from 2023 onwards.

Economic Profit Margin

The economic profit margin displayed a volatile but overall positive trend. Initially negative at -2.46% in January 2020, the margin improved to a positive 9.47% in January 2021 and peaked at 21.23% by January 2022. A reversal occurred in January 2023 when the margin fell to -8.33%, indicating a loss relative to revenue. Following this downturn, the margin experienced a strong recovery, reaching 34.15% in January 2024 and further expanding to 44.58% in January 2025. This trend suggests enhanced operational efficiency and profitability relative to revenue, particularly significant in the last two years.

Overall Insights

The analyzed metrics collectively depict a company undergoing phases of fluctuation in profitability, but with consistent and accelerating revenue growth. Despite intermittent setbacks reflected in negative economic profit and margins in 2023, the subsequent years show remarkable recovery and improvement. The substantial increase in both economic profit and profit margin in the latest periods indicates strengthened profit generation capabilities in relation to its revenue base. Continuous revenue growth combined with improving margins points toward an increasingly effective operational and financial performance over time.