The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Ford Motor and Qualcomm
Chicago, IL – July 31, 2025 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Microsoft MSFT, Meta Platforms META, Ford Motor Co. F and Qualcomm QCOM.
Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:
Markets Drop on Powell Presser Message, Plus Earnings After the Bell
Markets were floating along reasonably well yesterday. Then Fed Chair Powell started talking about using the Fed funds rate to thwart tariff-led inflation in the U.S. economy, and they all dropped significantly. The Nasdaq managed to squeak back into the green by the close, +31 points or +0.15%, while the other major indexes — the Dow, S&P 500 and small-cap Russell 2000 were all down -0.38%, -0.12% and -0.86%, respectively.
Fed Keeps Rates Steady; Powell Sees Cuts as "Next Step"
Unsurprisingly, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) yesterday decided to keep interest rates steady at +4.25-4.50%, as they have in all five meetings so far in 2025. While the Fed acknowledged that growth moderated in the first half of the year, unemployment and the labor market were fine, overall. However, it sees inflation and uncertainty elevated.
The difference between yesterday's monetary policy decision and those released earlier this year was we did not see a unanimous decision to keep rates steady. Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman — both Fed governors, not regional presidents — opted for a 25 basis point (bps) cut; Fed Governor Adriana Kugler was absent and did not vote.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell, facing consistent heat from President Trump and his supplicants to lower rates, has maintained his "modestly restrictive" policy has kept a good balance between a strong labor market (4.1% unemployment) and controlled inflation (if not yet reaching the +2.0% goal Powell has set). He said, in his presser after the FOMC release, that core Personal Consumption Expenditures were little changed from the start of the year, but that tariffs were beginning to push up inflation metrics.
"Tariffs are starting to show up in consumption prices," Powell said. This could more clearly viewed from the latest CPI Inflation Rate, which jumped to +2.7% in its latest print. The Fed Chair reiterated several times that the one-and-done nature of tariff levying on trade partners won't lead to outsized inflation "because we'll make sure those tariffs don't result in it." This is a bearish signal for those investors looking for signs Powell is ready to cut.
We saw market indexes fall off a table on this news. There was nothing exactly surprising in Powell's statements, but that they came so easily, so matter-of-factly to him, that likely gave market participants reason to reverse course. But Powell did say, later on in the press briefing, that the Fed's "next steps will likely be in (the) direction (of rate cuts)."
Cavalcade of Afternoon Earnings Results
Microsoft shares were up a strong +8% in late trading following the company's robust fiscal Q4 earnings report after the closing bell. Earnings of $3.65 per share beat the Zacks consensus by 30 cents, +24% year over year. Revenues of $76.4 billion were nicely above the $73.7 billion expected, +18% growth year over year. Its cloud business, Azure, was the big story: up +39% in the quarter to $75 billion.
Meta Platforms posted even stronger overall results Wednesday afternoon, slamming earnings projections: $7.14 per share versus $5.83 anticipated. Revenues were also strongly beyond expectations at $47.52 billion in the quarter, up from the $44.84 billion estimate. Daily Active People (DAP) across all its social media services rose +6% to 3.48 billion in Q2. Revenue guidance for next quarter is well higher than the previous projection. Shares are up over +9% on the news.
Ford Motor Co. make it a trifecta in beating earnings and sales after yesterday's close, with Q2 earning per share at 37 cents, 3 cents higher than the Zacks estimate. Revenues crossed over $50 billion from an expected $47.7 billion. Yet shares are down as the company reported the direct tariff exposure has already cost the company $800 million in Q2.
Qualcomm also beat expectations on its bottom line Wednesday afternoon, by 7 cents to $2.77 per share in its fiscal Q3. Revenues of $10.37 billion — the lion's share coming from iPhone chips, worth $6.33 billion on their own — was a slight miss from the $10.38 billion analysts were expecting. Shares dropped -4.6% on the news.
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