TLDR
- Snowflake shares surged 35% in premarket after beating first-quarter earnings estimates
- Software stocks like Oracle and ServiceNow rose on the back of Snowflake’s results
- Chip stocks including Intel and AMD pulled back, with U.S.-Iran tensions cited as a catalyst for profit-taking
- Drone stock Unusual Machines jumped 33% after reports the Trump administration may fund drone companies
- Bitcoin fell to its lowest level in over six weeks, dropping to $72,643, dragging crypto-linked stocks lower
Snowflake delivered a blowout first quarter, and the ripple effects were felt across the software sector Thursday morning. Meanwhile, chip stocks cooled off and Bitcoin hit a six-week low.
Snowflake Leads Software Higher
Snowflake’s fiscal first-quarter profit came in well above Wall Street estimates. That sent its shares up 35% in premarket trading.
The strong result lifted other software names. Oracle added 2.6% and ServiceNow rose 5.5%. MongoDB jumped 11% ahead of its own first-quarter earnings, due after Thursday’s close.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives kept his Outperform rating on Snowflake and raised his price target to $280 from $270. He cited increased confidence in the company’s AI strategy and kept it on the IVES AI 30 List.
Not every software name benefited. Salesforce fell around 2% after its second-quarter revenue forecast came in below expectations, despite reporting a 50% year-over-year increase in earnings per share. The company did raise its full-year revenue forecast to a range of $45.9 billion to $46.2 billion.
Microsoft edged up 1.1%. Morgan Stanley noted the company is deploying AI data center capacity ahead of near-term monetization, suggesting future revenue could grow sharply. Microsoft’s data center footprint could grow from around 5 gigawatts in fiscal 2024 to roughly 20 gigawatts by fiscal 2028.
Chip Stocks Pull Back
After a strong run, chip stocks gave back some gains Thursday. Traders pointed to rising U.S.-Iran tensions as a reason to take profits.
Advanced Micro Devices slipped 1.4% and Intel fell 2.9%. Micron Technology declined 1.2%, just two days after hitting a $1 trillion market valuation.
Marvell Technology dropped 3% even after its revenue beat expectations and earnings came in line with estimates. Investors appeared to have expected more, and the stock erased early gains.
One exception was Nebius, a cloud-computing company. It gained 11% after investor Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness fund disclosed a stake in the company.
Drone company Unusual Machines surged 33% after the Wall Street Journal reported the Trump administration is considering funding agreements with several drone companies. The move is part of a push to expand domestic drone production and cut costs.
Bitcoin Hits Six-Week Low
Bitcoin dropped as much as 3.3% to $72,643 during Thursday’s session, its weakest level since April 13. The slide was tied to geopolitical jitters over the Middle East and outflows from U.S. Bitcoin ETFs.
Crypto-linked stocks ticked lower in step with the price drop. Futu Holdings fell 4.3% after reporting earnings, adding to pressure on that group.
U.S. stock futures edged lower Thursday morning as investors tracked fresh macroeconomic data and ongoing developments in the Middle East.
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