Key Points:
- Nvidia shares climbed 0.9% after reporting $81.6 billion in quarterly revenue and adding $80 billion to its buyback program.
- Intuit stock crashed 11% despite beating earnings expectations because the company announced plans to cut 17% of its workforce.
- Applied Digital shares rallied 7% after securing a massive 15-year data center lease worth up to $18.2 billion.
- Retailers e.l.f. Beauty and Urban Outfitters saw their stocks rise after posting strong quarterly revenue numbers that beat analyst estimates.
Wall Street watched closely as Nvidia delivered another massive financial report on Wednesday evening. The chipmaker saw its shares climb 0.9% in after-hours trading. Investors initially hesitated, causing a brief dip in the stock right after the market closed, but they quickly cheered the incredible first-quarter blowout. Nvidia generated an astonishing $81.6 billion in revenue during the quarter. Company executives also gave a very strong outlook for the second quarter. They confidently told investors they expect revenue to hit $91 billion as demand for their artificial intelligence chips continues to surge.
Beyond the massive revenue numbers, Nvidia rewarded its shareholders directly. The company announced a giant $80 billion increase to its existing stock buyback program. This means Nvidia will purchase its own shares off the open market to increase the value of the remaining shares. The technology giant also raised its dividend payout to $0.25 per share. These shareholder-friendly moves show the company holds massive cash reserves and expects strong growth to continue well into the future.
While Nvidia celebrated, financial software giant Intuit faced a harsh market reaction. Intuit shares tumbled 11% in extended trading, wiping out millions in market value. This steep drop occurred even though the company beat third-quarter expectations and raised its full-year financial guidance. The negative reaction stemmed entirely from a major structural change inside the company that caught many investors completely off guard.
Intuit announced sudden plans to reduce its full-time workforce by a massive 17%. Executives said they need to simplify the company structure to create a faster, leaner business moving forward. Firing this many employees comes with a high immediate cost to the business. The company expects to pay between $300 million and $340 million in restructuring charges. Intuit will recognize most of these layoff costs during its fourth fiscal quarter, which ends on July 31, 2026.
The artificial intelligence boom also lifted another technology company on Wednesday evening. Applied Digital shares rallied 7% after the company secured a massive long-term contract. The company officially signed a 15-year lease agreement with a prominent United States hyperscaler. This major deal centers entirely on the new Polaris Forge 3 AI data center campus, a facility built specifically to handle modern computing needs.
If the client exercises all its options over the next decade and a half, this high-value contract will bring in up to $18.2 billion. The agreement locks in 300 megawatts of power specifically dedicated to heavy artificial intelligence workloads. Data centers need massive amounts of power to run complex AI programs. This specific deal proves that big technology companies will gladly pay top dollar to secure that electricity for the next decade.
In the retail sector, e.l.f. Beauty gave its investors a solid reason to smile. The popular cosmetics brand saw its stock jump 6% following a remarkably strong fourth-quarter earnings report. The company easily beat analyst expectations on both the top and bottom lines. During the quarter alone, e.l.f. Beauty generated a massive $449.3 million in total revenue by selling its affordable makeup and skincare products.
This strong, immediate financial performance helped investors ignore some slightly bad news about the future. The company released its full-year guidance for 2027, and the numbers came in softer than expected. The future outlook missed the consensus estimates set by Wall Street analysts earlier this year. However, the sheer strength of the recent quarter outweighed the weak long-term outlook in traders’ eyes, sending the stock higher anyway.
Finally, Urban Outfitters joined the list of after-hours winners on Wednesday. Shares of the popular clothing retailer climbed 2% after the company released a very healthy first-quarter earnings report. Urban Outfitters’ analysts’ earnings-per-share estimates say a solid $0.16. This profit beat gave investors renewed confidence in the corporate leadership team.
The clothing company also brought in more money than experts originally predicted. Revenue for the quarter reached $1.48 billion across its various store brands. Wall Street had originally forecasted just $1.46 billion in revenue. This solid beat shows that consumers still want to spend money on trendy clothing and accessories despite broader economic pressures affecting other traditional retail stores across the country.
