By Callum Keown
Tech stocks looked set to continue their momentum Friday, aided by Apple's earnings and bumper stock buyback announcement.
Futures on the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.7% in early trading after the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.5% in the previous session. The index was 0.6% down for the week through Thursday and will be pushing to end it in positive territory.
Apple stock climbed 6% after its fiscal second-quarter earnings were better than feared and the company unveiled a $110 billion stock buyback. Some of its Big Tech peers were also helping the tech sector in premarket trading. Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet all rose. However, Meta Platforms and Amazon were lower and Tesla was flat.
Block shares were among the best performers in the S&P 500, rising 7.3% after the payments fintech's earnings beat expectations. Bitcoin revenue jumped 26% to $2.73 billion in the first three months of the year, helping to drive 19% revenue growth.
There were disappointing tech earnings for investors to digest, too. Cloudflare stock tumbled 13% after the internet security company kept its revenue outlook unchanged. The company reiterated its guidance for full-year revenue of a midpoint of $1.65 billion, despite beating expectations in the first quarter.
Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz said the fact the company only stuck to its outlook was "a surprise for a high-growth stock with a prior guide that had been viewed by many as conservative." He cut his price target on the stock to $88 from $95 Friday.
Rival cybersecurity stock Fortinet was also tumbling 9% ahead of the open after the company's billings declined 6% in the first quarter, falling short of estimates.
It had an impact on other names in the sector as Palo Alto stock fell 1.8%, CrowdStrike was down 1.1%, and Zscaler declined 1.1%.
Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 03, 2024 08:27 ET (12:27 GMT)
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