Stock futures were rising sharply Thursday as investors cheered strong revenue growth from Microsoft and Meta Platforms even as the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank had “made no decisions” about whether to cut rates in September.
These stocks were poised to make moves Thursday:
Microsoft was up 8.5% in premarket trading after the software giant posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $3.65 a share, better than Wall Street expectations of $3.37, as revenue of $76.4 billion rose 18% from a year earlier and beat analysts’ models of $73.6 billion. Cloud revenue rose 27% in the quarter from a year earlier to $46.7 billion. Revenue for the Azure public-cloud business grew by 39% year over year, up from last quarter’s revenue growth of 33%.
Meta Platforms, Inc. jumped 12% after the parent company of Facebook and Instagram posted second-quarter earnings of $7.14 a share, smashing Wall Street forecasts of $5.88. Revenue jumped 22% to $47.5 billion and beat expectations. Daily users at Meta, ad impressions, and price-per-ad all exceeded Wall Street consensus. The company said it expects third-quarter revenue of $47.5 billion to $50.5 billion, higher than consensus of $46.3 billion.
Qualcomm reported fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.77 a share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.71, and said it expects fourth-quarter adjusted profit of $2.75 to $2.95 a share versus consensus of $2.82. Revenue rose 10% to $10.37 billion as sales in the company’s equipment and services segment, which includes chips, rose around 11% to $8.89 billion. However, handsets revenue and automotive-sector revenue missed estimates. Shares of the maker of mobile processors and 5G wireless chipsets were down 5.7% in premarket trading.
Chip designer Arm Holdings was down 7% after posting fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings of 35 cents a share, in line with consensus estimates. Revenue of $1.05 billion also matched expectations. For its current second quarter, Arm expects revenue in a range from $1.01 billion to $1.11 billion, while analysts estimate $1.06 billion.
Ford Motor reported second-quarter operating profit of $2.1 billion, and earnings of 37 cents a share on revenue of $50.2 billion. Ford topped analysts’ estimates on each metric. The company also reinstated full-year financial guidance after pausing guidance in May, saying it expects a 2025 operating profit of between $6.5 billion and $7.5 billion. But Ford said tariff-related costs would cut about $2 billion from its annual earnings, more than earlier estimates. The auto maker declined 1.4%.
Lam Research fell 6.2% after the maker of semiconductor equipment reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit that rose from a year earlier as revenue jumped to $5.17 billion and beat forecasts. Adjusted earnings in the period of $1.33 a share were better than expectations of $1.20. Lam Research said it expects first-quarter earnings of $1.20 a share, plus or minus 10 cents, on revenue of $5.2 billion, plus or minus $300 million. Analysts forecast earnings of $1 a share and revenue of $4.65 billion.
Robinhood Markets said second-quarter revenue soared 45% from a year earlier to $989 million and beat Wall Street forecasts of $914.6 million. Robinhood said transaction-based revenue increased 65%, driven by sales growth in options, crypto and equities. Second-quarter earnings were 42 cents a share, higher than consensus of 31 cents. Shares of the retail trading platform declined 0.8%.
Carvana ‘s second-quarter earnings and revenue rose from a year earlier on higher car sales. The online used-car company said it sold a record 143,280 retail units in the quarter, up 41% from a year earlier. Shares jumped 16%.
Ambiq Micro, which focuses on ultra-low-power semiconductor technology, surged 60% in its trading debut Wednesday to $38.53 and was rising a further 11% in premarket trading.
Earnings reports are expected Thursday from Apple, Amazon.com, Mastercard, AbbVie, Comcast, Ferrari, MicroStrategy, Bristol Myers Squibb, Coinbase Global, CVS Health, Reddit, and First Solar.
Apple was up slightly ahead of the iPhone maker’s fiscal third-quarter earnings report, while Amazon rose 3.2% ahead of the release of second-quarter earnings for the tech giant and online retailer.