Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Friday<\/p>\n
August 29, 2025 05:07 PM EDT<\/p>\n
Decliners:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Advancers:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n –Michael Bromberg<\/a>\n<\/p>\n SentinelOne Earnings Point to Strong AI-Driven Cybersecurity Demand<\/p>\n August 29, 2025 03:53 PM EDT<\/p>\n Shares of SentinelOne (S<\/a>) rose nearly 6% Friday after the company became the latest cybersecurity firm whose results topped estimates as AI threats proliferate.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n SentinelOne on Thursday evening reported fiscal 2026 second-quarter annualized\u00a0recurring revenue<\/a>\u00a0grew 24% year-over-year to surpass $1 billion for the first time, and raised its full-year revenue guidance.\n<\/p>\n Jefferies analysts in a note on Friday attributed the strong results to “improved execution” and a broadening product portfolio, which will grow later this year when the company completes its acquisition of Prompt Security, “a pioneer in securing AI in runtime, preventing AI-related data leakage and protecting intelligent agents.”\n<\/p>\n SentinelOne is the latest cybersecurity company to report strong demand amid a proliferation of AI-related threats. Palo Alto Networks (PANW<\/a>) earlier this month\u00a0topped sales and earnings estimates<\/a>\u00a0and issued stronger-than-expected guidance, as did Okta (OKTA<\/a>).\u00a0\n<\/p>\n “As GenAI and agentic AI fundamentally reshape how businesses operate, new risks are emerging around visibility, compliance, data leakage and control,” SentinelOne CEO Tomer Weingarten said on the company’s earnings call, according to an AlphaSense transcript.\n<\/p>\n Morgan Stanley analysts in a note last month identified three distinct “core secular security drivers” sustaining strong demand for cybersecurity products: “growth of the attack surface area” with the expansion of cloud computing and AI; “severity of the threat environment,” referring to the increasing sophistication of AI-supported attacks; and “expanding regulatory\/compliance requirements” stemming from the adoption of generative AI.\n<\/p>\n For that reason, cybersecurity remains a top priority for IT executives. According to Morgan Stanley’s second-quarter\u00a0Chief Information Officer<\/a>\u00a0survey, companies expect to increase cybersecurity software by 9.8% this year, up from 9.2% in the fourth quarter of 2024. That far outpaces plans for overall software spending, which respondents recently forecast would grow by 3.6%, down from 3.8% in the 2025 first quarter.\n<\/p>\n –Colin Laidley<\/a>\n<\/p>\n PepsiCo Leans Into Energy Drinks With $585M Celsius Stake<\/p>\n August 29, 2025 03:12 PM EDT<\/p>\n PepsiCo (PEP<\/a>) is leaning further into energy drinks, increasing its stake in\u00a0Celsius Holdings (CELH<\/a>) to 11% in a $585 million deal.\n<\/p>\n The news sent shares of Celsius up 4% in early trading Friday, bringing their year-to-date gains to 140%.\n<\/p>\n As part of a deal the two have struck, PepsiCo has bought $585 million in newly issued convertible preferred shares in Celsius and extended its existing preferred shares. PepsiCo will distribute Celsius\u2019 \u201cfemale-focused\u201d Alani Nu brand in the U.S. and Canada, while Celsius has bought the Rockstar Energy brand in the U.S. and Canada from the maker of Doritos and Pepsi soda.\n<\/p>\n David Paul Morris \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n PepsiCo will nominate an additional director to Celsius\u2019s board and continue to own the Rockstar Energy brand internationally.\n<\/p>\n The deal \u201cmarks the next step in PepsiCo reshaping its brand portfolio,” PepsiCo CEO Ram Krishnan said. \u201cEnergy is an important growth category, and we believe this move with our partner Celsius creates a stronger multi-brand energy portfolio that is better positioned to serve different consumer cohorts.”\n<\/p>\n Shares in PepsiCo, whose other sports drinks include Gatorade,\u00a0are little changed in early trading Friday and have lost 3% of their value so far this year.\n<\/p>\n –Nisha Gopalan<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Alibaba Stock Jumps on Earnings, Chip News<\/strong><\/p>\n August 29, 2025 02:10 PM EDT<\/p>\n China intends to keep up with the\u00a0Jensen Huangs<\/a>\u00a0of the world.\n<\/p>\n Recent moves out of the country’s tech sector illustrate the country’s ambitions to remain a contender in the race for AI dominance at a time when Nvidia (NVDA<\/a>), its CEO Huang, and others hope to thwart its advance and\u00a0battle for a big share<\/a>\u00a0of a multibillion-dollar Chinese market for AI technology.\n<\/p>\n The latest development: Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba Group Holdings’ (BABA<\/a>) cloud-computing unit is said to have developed a new chip more advanced than its legacy products, according to a new report from\u00a0the Wall Street Journal.\n<\/p>\n \u00a0Other AI challengers are emerging from Shanghai to Beijing.<\/p>\n Alibaba did not respond to\u00a0Investopedia’s\u00a0request for comment on the report in time for publication. But investors took note: Its stock, aided by its latest quarterly results, was 13% higher in recent trading Friday. Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX<\/a>) fell nearly 3%, with Marvell Technology’s (MRVL<\/a>)\u00a0double-digit decline<\/a>\u00a0dragging on the overall index.\n<\/p>\n Shares of Nvidia (NVDA<\/a>), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD<\/a>), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM<\/a>) were also down as of Friday afternoon.\n<\/p>\n Though the U.S. has blocked China from accessing critical AI tools on national-security grounds and boosted domestic companies, Chinese companies are finding workarounds. China appears intent on eschewing U.S.-made products for its own; Nvidia reportedly\u00a0suspended production<\/a>\u00a0of its H20 chips after Beijing asked local firms to avoid using them due to security concerns.\n<\/p>\n Jack Ma-founded Alibaba could be a formidable challenger if its AI business grows up to be anything like its online retail business, which in its latest fiscal year generated roughly $81 billion in revenue.\u00a0CEO Eddie Wu said the firm “has ambitions beyond competing in a single category” and will invest to drive growth in its cloud and AI infrastructure businesses, during its quarterly earnings call, per a transcript made available by AlphaSense.\n<\/p>\n Alibaba had previously\u00a0announced plans<\/a>\u00a0to spend 380 billion renminbi, or over $50 billion, to drive growth in those businesses over the next three years. The company has also rolled out an AI model it said could\u00a0outperform models<\/a>\u00a0from fellow\u00a0Chinese challenger DeepSeek<\/a>, OpenAI, and Meta Platforms (META<\/a>). Cloud revenue grew 26% in the June-ended quarter.<\/p>\n “Alibaba Group has two historic opportunities to build a technology platform centered on AI plus cloud and to create a comprehensive shopping and daily life services consumption platform,” Wu said Friday.\n<\/p>\n –Crystal Kim<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Autodesk Stock Surges Amid Growing AI-Related Demand<\/strong><\/p>\n August 29, 2025 12:51 PM EDT<\/p>\n Autodesk (ADSK<\/a>) shares surged Friday after the company posted better-than-expected results and raised its guidance on demand for its design software for artificial intelligence data centers.\n<\/p>\n Autodesk late Thursday reported fiscal 2026 second-quarter adjusted\u00a0earnings per share (EPS)<\/a>\u00a0of $2.62, with revenue rising 17% year-over-year to $1.76 billion. Both exceeded forecasts. Billings jumped 36% to $1.68 billion, also more than estimates.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Design segment product sales increased 17% to $1.47 billion, and Make unit product sales were 20% higher to $194 million.\n<\/p>\n Sales of its Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) software grew 23% to $878 million, and its popular AutoCad and AutoCad LT software brought in $440 million, up 13%.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n CFO Janesh Moorjani said the company “saw strength in AECO, where our customers are benefiting from sustained investment in data centers, infrastructure, and industrial buildings, which is more than offsetting softness in commercial.”\n<\/p>\n Autodesk now sees full-year adjusted EPS of $9.80 to $9.98, revenue of $7.025 billion to $7.075 billion, and billings of $7.355 billion to $7.445. Previously, the company’s guidance was for adjusted EPS of $9.50 to $9.73, revenue of $6.925 billion to $6.995 billion, and billings of $7.160 billion to $7.310 billion.\n<\/p>\n Autodesk shares were up 8% recently, pacing S&P 500 gainers. The stock has moved back into positive territory for 2025.\n<\/p>\n –Bill McColl<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Caterpillar Leads Dow Decliners as Company Warns on Tariffs<\/strong><\/p>\n August 29, 2025 12:19 PM EDT<\/p>\n Caterpillar (CAT<\/a>) shares slid Friday, a day after the maker of big farm and construction equipment warned tariffs would negatively impact its results by a greater amount the rest of the year.\n<\/p>\n The company wrote in a regulatory filing that it expects tariffs to cost about $500 million to $600 million in the third quarter and approximately $1.5 to $1.8 billion for 2025. Earlier this month, it said it expected 2025 net incremental tariffs around $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion.\n<\/p>\n In addition, Caterpillar sees full-year adjusted\u00a0operating margin<\/a>\u00a0to be near the bottom of the target range. In its second-quarter earnings call Aug. 5, the company said that excluding tariffs, it anticipated adjusted operating margin to be in the top half of its target range. However, it doesn\u2019t see any change in its 2025 sales and revenue outlook that was given then.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The company explained that it was providing this update as “several additional clarifications and additional tariffs have been announced” since the second quarter. It noted that further updates would come during the Q3 report and earnings call on Oct. 29.\n<\/p>\n Caterpillar shares have outperformed the Dow so far in 2025.<\/p>\n TradingView<\/p>\n Caterpillar shares were down 4.5% recently, leading decliners in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Despite the decline, the stock is up about 15% since the start of the year.<\/p>\n –Bill McColl<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Marvell Levels to Watch as Stock Plunges After Earnings<\/strong><\/p>\n August 29, 2025 11:26 AM EDT<\/p>\n Marvell Technology (MRVL<\/a>) shares plunged Friday after the chip designer issued a sales forecast below Wall Street\u2019s expectations.\n<\/p>\n The company said it expects third-quarter\u00a0revenue<\/a>\u00a0of $2.06 billion, give or take 5%, with that figure slightly below analysts’ estimates.\u00a0CEO Matthew Murphy said in the company’s\u00a0earnings call<\/a>\u00a0that he expects data center sales to be flat on a\u00a0sequential<\/a>\u00a0 basis, though he added that he anticipates stronger performance in the fourth quarter.\n<\/p>\n Shares of Marvell were down 17% at around $64 in recent trading, and have lost more than 40% of their value since the start of the year amid concerns the company could struggle to live up to investors’ high expectations of AI-driven upside. Uncertainty about U.S. chip restrictions on China sales, which represent a large portion of Marvell’s revenue, has also weighed on sentiment.\n<\/p>\n Source: TradingView.com.<\/p>\n Marvell shares earlier this month broke down below an\u00a0uptrend<\/a>\u00a0line extending back to the April low before staging a retest of the indicator leading into the company\u2019s quarterly results.\u00a0 Although the recent move saw the\u00a0relative strength index<\/a>\u00a0cross back into bullish territory, selling resumed Friday following the company\u2019s light outlook.\n<\/p>\n The stock has also failed to reclaim the closely watched\u00a0200-day moving average<\/a>\u00a0 after gapping below the indicator in March, indicating the bears remain in control of the longer-term\u00a0price action<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Investors should watch critical support levels on Marvell’s chart around $62, $56 and $50, while also monitoring an overhead area near $78.\n<\/p>\n Read the full technical analysis piece here<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n –Timothy Smith<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Dell Shares Tumble on Soft Profit Outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n August 29, 2025 10:47 AM EDT<\/p>\n Dell Technologies (DELL<\/a>) shares sank Friday, a day after it projected soft current-quarter profit.\n<\/p>\n The Round Rock, Texas-based maker of personal computers and servers sees third-quarter adjusted\u00a0earnings per share (EPS)<\/a>\u00a0of $2.45 at the midpoint, below the $2.49 expected by analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha.\n<\/p>\n Dell shares, which entered Friday up 16% this year, were down 10% in recent trading.\n<\/p>\n Dell’s forecasts for Q3 revenue and full-year profit and revenue came in above Visible Alpha consensus. Its second-quarter adjusted EPS of $2.32 on revenue that surged 19% year-over-year to a record $29.78 billion also topped estimates, which the company attributed to strong AI demand.\n<\/p>\n “We’ve now shipped $10 billion of AI solutions in the first half of FY26, surpassing all shipments in FY25. This helped deliver another record revenue quarter in our Servers and Networking business, which grew 69%,” COO Jeff Clarke said. “Demand for our AI solutions continues to be exceptional, and we’re raising our AI server shipment guidance for FY26 to $20 billion” from $15 billion-plus.\n<\/p>\n Citi analysts said in a note Friday that Dell’s Q2 PC segment sales were below consensus forecasts “by 3% or roughly $357.0 million,” and that it “likely lost share in PCs.” It added that the increase in its AI server shipment guidance is good news for Nvidia (NVDA<\/a>), which makes up 88% of its sales, and Micron Technology (MU<\/a>), at 17%. “Dell expects the traditional server business to grow in the 2nd half but below their prior expectations from the beginning of the year,” the analysts wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Affirm Stock Soars After Strong Earnings<\/strong><\/p>\n August 29, 2025 09:47 AM EDT<\/p>\n Affirm (AFRM<\/a>) swung to a quarterly profit with better-than-estimated results, as the\u00a0buy now, pay later<\/a>\u00a0provider posted surging gross merchandise volume.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The buoyant numbers boosted Affirm shares, which entered Friday up more than 30% this year. The stock jumped more than 20% in early trading.\n<\/p>\n\n
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