Watch parties, custom merch, and heartfelt poems: no, this isn’t happening around the new season of House of the Dragon. We’re talking about Nvidia earnings. For most companies, earnings reports are a routine, and often pretty uneventful, check on finances. But Nvidia is not like other companies. Fans of the tech giant flocked to bars to celebrate the results, some even wearing fake company merch (like this $45 snapback). Why the excitement? Nvidia has had an incredible year so far, leading the S&P 500 with ~150% growth and growing to a size where it now makes up 6.6% of the index. The company has made many everyday investors richer, and they want to keep the party going. But those high expectations fell flat after the company reported slower growth than past quarters as it ran into some production snags with its new AI chip. While beating revenue expectations would still be a win for any normal company, it wasn’t enough to meet the sky-high expectations of investors, who want Nvidia to continue blowing past estimates. As a result, the stock dipped 3.5% as of 11:55 a.m. Eastern this morning. Going forward, this lacklustre performance might make investors reconsider their heavy bets on AI, which have helped make Nvidia the world’s third-most-valuable company.