Biggest stock movers Thursday: META, MSFT, and more

Stock futures ticked higher Thursday morning, buoyed by blockbuster tech earnings that helped offset Fed signals casting doubt on a potential September rate cut.

Here are some of Thursday’s biggest stock movers:

Biggest stock gainers

• Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) +12% – Shares surged after the company blew past Q2 earnings expectations, reporting a 22% Y/Y revenue jump to $47.5B and a 36% rise in net income to $18.3B. Despite ramping up AI spending, Meta significantly boosted its operating margin to 43% and provided a robust Q3 revenue outlook of $47.5B–$50.5B, exceeding analyst forecasts of $46.3B.
• Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) +9% – Shares climbed after the company reported upbeat FQ4 results, largely driven by continued strong growth in its cloud and artificial intelligence segment, with Intelligent Cloud revenue surging 26%. Looking ahead, Microsoft’s optimistic 1Q ’26 revenue forecast of $75.25B (midpoint) comfortably exceeds consensus estimates of $74.15B, with Azure’s growth alone expected to surge by 37% in 1H2026. The tech giant also anticipates robust capital expenditures exceeding $30B in FQ1, signaling ongoing heavy investment to meet strong demand.
• Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) +8% – Shares rose after the data storage firm beat FQ4 estimates and issued an upbeat FQ1 outlook. Q4 non-GAAP EPS came in at $1.66 vs. $1.48 consensus, with revenue up 30% Y/Y to $2.61B, topping the $2.47B estimate. For FQ1, the company guided to EPS of $1.54 and revenue of $2.7B at the midpoint, both above Street expectations. Western Digital also declared a $0.10/share quarterly dividend and emphasized the continued relevance of HDDs in an AI-driven future.
• Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) +21% – Shares soared after the AI data center operator posted a narrower-than-expected Q4 loss of $0.03/share vs. the estimated loss of $0.16, with revenue of $38M topping forecasts. Momentum accelerated after partner CoreWeave exercised a lease option for an additional 150 MW, bringing total contracted lease revenue to $11B. Management highlighted strong AI infrastructure demand and ongoing efforts to market a multi-gigawatt pipeline. The board continues to review strategic alternatives for its cloud business.

Biggest stock losers

• Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) -5% – Shares slipped even after the chipmaker topped FQ3 earnings and revenue estimates and issued stronger-than-expected guidance for the current quarter. For FQ4, Qualcomm expects adjusted EPS of $2.75–$2.95 (midpoint $2.85) on revenue of $10.3B–$11.1B (midpoint $10.7B), both above analyst estimates of $2.82 EPS on $10.61B revenue.
• AB InBev (BUD) -11% – Shares plunged after the brewer reported a steeper-than-expected 1.9% drop in Q2 volumes, missing forecasts for a 0.3% decline, despite gains in revenue and profit. The slump was driven by weakness in China, where volumes fell 7.4% and the company admitted it was underperforming the industry, as well as Brazil, due to tough comparisons.