This week, which stocks lagged or dragged? Weekly Winners column keeps up with market trends, helping Tigers sort out the week's hottest sectors, stock winners and important news.
Below are top 10 S&P 500 stock gainers for the week ended July 31:
Microsoft Rises 22%, Q4 Azure Cloud Revenue Growth of 43% Far Exceeds Expectations
Microsoft topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly cloud revenue growth on Wednesday, a sign its massive spending on AI infrastructure was paying off as capacity constraints ease and more businesses adopt the technology.
Revenue at the company's Azure cloud-computing business rose 43% in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with analysts' consensus estimate of 39.98%, according to Visible Alpha.
Shares of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft were up about 22% this week.
"This year, Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats, reflecting the confidence customers are placing in us to power their AI transformation," CEO Satya Nadella said.
Garmin Shares Jump After Q2 Beat, 2026 Guidance Raise
Shares of Garmin rose 21% this week after the GPS maker breezed past earnings expectations in the second quarter and raised its full-year guidance.
Garmin reported adjusted earnings of $2.81 a share for the quarter, up from $2.17 a year ago and well above the $2.30 analysts had expected. Revenue rose 11% to $2.02 billion, surpassing Wall Street's call for $1.93 billion.
Garmin forecast earnings of $10 a share for 2026, up from a previous estimate of $9.35. The company also raised its projection for 2026 revenue to $8.05 billion from $7.9 billion.
Much like BlackBerry or GoPro, the Garmin name evokes nostalgia of 2000s electronic gadgets. Unlike many of those gadget makers, Garmin has warded off much richer competitors in the consumer electronics space to develop a range of still-relevant products.
Amazon Lifts Capex Plan After Strong Cloud Sales; Shares Jump 17%
Amazon beat expectations for quarterly cloud sales growth and boosted its annual capital spending outlook, signaling demand for AI services remains strong enough to justify its massive infrastructure investments. Shares in the Seattle-based online retailer climbed 17% this week.
Revenue at its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, jumped 37% to $42.2 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts' consensus estimate of a 31.21% increase, according to data compiled by LSEG.
"AWS is booming," CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement, noting it was the unit's fastest growth in 18 quarters. "Our AI and chips businesses each eclipsed run rates of more than $25 billion."
He said Amazon now expects capital expenditures to reach $220 billion this year, a 10% increase from an earlier forecast. Jassy said the cost of purchasing memory chips was a prime factor in the increase.
Chipotle Stock Jumped on Improving Traffic. Cyclospora Impact Might be Overstated.
Chipotle Mexican Grill shares soared 17% this week after the company posted second-quarter revenue and earnings Wednesday that edged past Wall Street estimates, and it raised its full-year sales outlook.
The results gave investors confidence that the burrito chain's recovery is gaining traction, although rising beef, freight, and labor costs continued to squeeze profitability.
For the quarter ended in June, Chipotle revenue increased 9.3% from a year earlier to $3.35 billion, slightly above analysts' consensus estimate of about $3.33 billion. Adjusted earnings were 33 cents a share, one cent ahead of expectations and unchanged from the year-ago period.
Comparable-restaurant sales rose 2.2%, accelerating from 0.5% in the first quarter -- driven by an 1% rise in transactions and a 1.2% gain in the average check. That means Chipotle generated growth from both customer visits and spending rather than relying entirely on menu-price increases.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Rises 16% as Q2 Earnings Massively Beat Expectations
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals rose 16% this week. The rally was driven by the company's Q2 earnings report released pre-market, which significantly exceeded Wall Street expectations.
Regeneron reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $14.29 per diluted share, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $10.26 by 39.28% and representing a 10.86% increase over $12.89 in the year-ago period. Revenue came in at $4.29 billion, well above the $3.82 billion expected and up from $3.68 billion a year earlier. Notably, the company had previously disclosed in an SEC filing that it expected Q2 GAAP and non-GAAP diluted EPS to decline by approximately $1, making the actual blowout results an even greater positive surprise for investors.
Comments