Websites show different EPS numbers

Question

I'm a newbie here. This is my first post. I would appreciate it if someone will help me. I'm a bit confused about EPS values.

For example, Nvidia's Oct 2020 earnings:

• TradingView shows:

  EPS Est. 2.58 vs Actual 2.12, -17.75% surprise

  

• Nasdaq shows:

  EPS Est. 1.92 vs Actual 2.41, +25.52% surprise

  

• MarketWatch shows:

  EPS Est. 2.91 vs Actual 2.91, +0.00% surprise

  

• Yahoo Finance shows:

  EPS Est. 2.57 vs Actual 2.91, +13.20% surprise

  

Why do these differences occur? Which numbers do you think I should trust? Can someone explain to me?

Answer 1

NVIDIA reported both GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and non-GAAP earnings amounts at the end of their Q3. Their GAAP EPS was 2.12, but their non-GAAP EPS was 2.91. Different sites apparently use different values.

I can't reconcile the values that Nasdaq uses. It's possible that their data hasn't fully incorporated the reported results since they were just announced a day ago. If you look at the Financials section their Q3 results aren't posted there yet.

Non-GAAP results are typically adjusted to remove the effect on non-recurring events, so that results from one period to the next are comparable.

Whether you use the GAAP or non-GAAP results depending on what you're trying to measure. For example, if you're trying to measure financial growth, non-GAAP might give you a sense of how their actual operations are growing. You obviously can't just ignore the items that are excluded in non-GAAP results, but you might look at both depending on what you're evaluating.