$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$, which is spearheading the artificial intelligence revolution, reported Wednesday after the close first-quarter results that climbed past lofty expectations amid ever-increasing demand for its AI accelerators. The guidance for the second quarter also exceeded expectations. The company announced a 10-for-1 stock split and hiked its quarterly dividend by 150%. Reacting to the results, Nvidia's stock rose in after-hours trading.

Nvidia's Key Q1 Metrics:

*Benzinga Pro data

"The next industrial revolution has begun — companies and countries are partnering with NVIDIA to shift the trillion-dollar traditional data centers to accelerated computing and build a new type of data center — AI factories — to produce a new commodity: artificial intelligence," said CEO Jensen Huang.

"AI will bring significant productivity gains to nearly every industry and help companies be more cost- and energy-efficient, while expanding revenue opportunities."

Ahead of the results, analysts were worried about the imminent launch of its next-gen AI accelerators codenamed Blackwell  denting demand for the existing H200 lineup.

Nvidia's Shareholder Returns: Nvidia said its next quarterly dividend amounting to 10 cents per share will be payable on June 28 to shareholders of record as of June 11. The dividend has been hiked by 150%

The company announced a 10-for-1 stock split, with each record holder of common stock as of the close of market on Thursday, June 6 receiving nine additional shares of common stock, to be distributed after the close of market on Friday, June 7. Trading is expected to commence on a split-adjusted basis at the market open on Monday, June 10.

Nvidia's Guidance: Nvidia guided to second-quarter revenue of $28 billion, plus or minus 2%. Analysts, on average, currently model revenue of $26.66 billion and earnings per share of $5.95.

The non-GAAP gross margin will likely to come in at 75.5%, plus or minus 50 basis points, the company said. For the full year, the company expects gross margins in the mid-70% range.

Nvidia will host its earnings call at 5 p.m. EDT. Ahead of the results, Paul Marino, chief revenue officer at GraniteShares, said investors will likely hang on to every word from Huang to see how confident he is about future growth.

NVDA Price Action: Nvidia stock is up 91.74% year-to-date, outperforming major ETFs such as the $SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.US)$ and $Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ.US)$, and the $iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX.US)$ . This follows a 240% surge in 2023.

The stock, though, is trading off its all-time high of $974 hit on March 8.

Nvidia shares, which closed Wednesday's regular session down 0.46% to $949.50, gained 6.06% to $1007.00 in after-hours trading.