Nvidia and Salesforce surged 8% and 22%, respectively, after Wednesday earnings reports dismantled persistent Wall Street bear cases, while CrowdStrike jumped 20.5% on its own strong results and broader tech indexes climbed to multi-week highs.
Shares of Nvidia and Salesforce jumped 8% and 22%, respectively, on Thursday after both companies reported better-than-expected quarterly results Wednesday evening, sending cybersecurity and broader tech stocks higher alongside them and pushing the Nasdaq Composite to its best session since Aug. 4.
The twin rallies came as investors had long harbored two distinct fears about each stock. For Salesforce, the concern centered on whether increasingly capable AI models would allow businesses to accomplish more with fewer traditional software subscriptions, eroding the industry's pricing model. Despite recovering over the prior month, Salesforce had still been down 22% for the year heading into the print.
The results appeared to push back against that narrative. The company delivered its strongest sales growth in four years, with seats across its sales, service, and Slack products growing year over year, and customer attrition remaining near historic lows. Bookings for its AI-focused bundles more than doubled from the prior quarter.
Salesforce's expanding partnership with Anthropic added further weight to the counterargument. The two companies announced Claudeforce, a product that allows Claude users to access Salesforce data to perform tasks such as composing emails and updating records — turning a company once viewed as a competitive threat into a distribution partner.
Nvidia's results addressed a broader set of concerns: slowing demand from hyperscalers, competition from custom chips, potential delays to its next-generation Vera Rubin platform, and risks related to its financing arrangements with AI customers. The company's actual results cut against each of those worries.
Nvidia's customer base has grown more diversified, with hyperscalers now accounting for roughly half of its revenue while sovereign AI projects, neoclouds, and other buyers make up the remainder. The Vera Rubin chip remains on schedule. CEO Jensen Huang said older Nvidia infrastructure can remain productive for years as software improvements extend its useful life.
Amazon Web Services provided a concrete illustration of persistent demand. Despite developing its own AI chips, AWS announced plans to purchase 2 million Nvidia GPUs and potentially millions of Nvidia's new Vera CPUs — a commitment that reinforced the argument that custom silicon and Nvidia products are not mutually exclusive.
Nvidia's forward outlook drew particular attention. The company indicated revenue could grow roughly 70% in fiscal 2028, well above the approximately 45% Wall Street had anticipated, reflecting stronger-than-expected visibility into AI infrastructure spending.
The broader cybersecurity sector also moved sharply higher during the session, partly driven by a separate earnings catalyst. CrowdStrike surged 20.5% on Thursday following its own Wednesday earnings report. The Global X Cybersecurity ETF rose 10%, and the Amplify Cybersecurity ETF gained 8%. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz told "Mad Money" that the company's momentum was driven by the recognition that "the AI offender is here."
SentinelOne, which reported Thursday evening, fell roughly 4% in after-hours trading as its guidance fell short of investor expectations, signaling that the session's enthusiasm was not uniform across the sector.
The major indexes heading into Friday's session reflect a broader year-to-date advance. The S&P 500 is up 12.9% in 2026, the Nasdaq 100 is up 17.4%, and the Russell 2000 has gained 21.5%. All eyes are also on Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, who is scheduled to deliver remarks at 10 a.m. ET Friday from Jackson Hole, Wyoming — a speech markets across every sector are expected to watch closely.
Sara Montes de Oca is the Editor in Chief of TechEchelon. Previously a correspondent and producer in Washington, D.C., covering business, finance, and politics.
More from Sara →Nvidia's CFO guided for 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2028 — well above the 44% Wall Street consensus — which would put projected sales at roughly $673 billion and place the chipmaker ahead of Apple and Alphabet among U.S. tech companies by revenue.
Salesforce posted fiscal Q2 revenue of $11.35 billion and net income up 87% year over year, fueled by a $2.6 billion gain on its Anthropic stake. Agentforce AI annualized revenue surpassed $1.5 billion, rising 240% from a year ago.
Nvidia reports second-quarter earnings Wednesday after the bell, with Wall Street projecting $2.09 in earnings per share on $92.28 billion in revenue. Analysts and investors say the results will be read as a broad gauge of the AI infrastructure trade's staying power.
Written for readers who already know the basics — markets, AI, and the policy decisions that shape both.