Trending stocks this week as markets weigh war risks and corporate results

[Wall Street street sign in Manhattan financial district]
Alexey_Fedoren

Wall Street’s major averages ended the week mixed, even as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed to fresh highs as the unresolved conflict in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher.

Crude oil futures rose about 13.2% this week to settle near $94 a barrel, while Brent crude gained 17.2% to around $105 a barrel as of post-market Friday.

On the economic front, retail sales increased more than expected in March, while February business inventories rose 0.4% month over month to $2.69 trillion, ahead of the 0.2% consensus estimate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Meanwhile, earnings season gained momentum with a busy slate of reports across sectors from companies including Tesla, Intel, ServiceNow, and defense-related names such as GE Aerospace, Boeing, Honeywell, 3M, Union Pacific, and Lockheed Martin.

For the week, the S&P (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]) gained +0.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/COMP:IND]) rose +1.5% and the blue-chip Dow (DJI [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/DJI]) declined -0.4%.

HERE’S WHAT CAUGHT INVESTOR ATTENTION THIS WEEK:

TESLA (TSLA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/TSLA]) shares were under pressure Thursday after the company’s Q1 earnings report. The electric vehicle giant reported revenue of $22.9B (+15.8% year-over-year). EPS came in at $0.41 vs. $0.35 consensus and $0.12 a year ago. During the earnings conference call, CEO Elon Musk said 2026 will be a very exciting year. He said the company's heavy capital expenditure spending of about $25B this year will pay off in the future.

META PLATFORMS (META [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/META]) announced an expanded deal with Amazon (AMZN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AMZN]) to deploy "tens of millions" of AWS's Graviton processors to power its AI. Financial details of the deal were not made public, but it is expected to last for at least three years.

INTEL (INTC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/INTC]) shares rallied after the chipmaker posted first-quarter results and guidance that topped Wall Street expectations. For the quarter ended March 28, Intel reported adjusted earnings of $0.29 per share on revenue of $13.58B, up 7.2% year over year, while guidance also came in ahead of expectations. Looking ahead, Intel expects second-quarter revenue to be between $13.8 and $14.8B and an adjusted $0.20 per share.

SERVICENOW (NOW [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NOW]) dropped over 17% on Thursday after its quarterly report showed slightly lower-than-expected margins. For the full year, ServiceNow sees a subscription-adjusted gross margin of 81.5%, below the 82.1% estimate, citing recent acquisitions, with normalization expected by 2027.

APPLE (AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) announced a major leadership transition on April 21, with Tim Cook stepping down as CEO after a 15-year tenure that saw the company’s stock appreciate more than 10x. John Ternus, currently head of hardware engineering, will assume the CEO role on Sept. 1, while Cook transitions to the position of executive chairman.

LOCKHEED MARTIN (LMT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/LMT]) was down 4% in early trading on Thursday after the largest U.S. defense contractor and maker of fighter jets, missile systems, and military spacecraft reported dour results, missing Wall Street expectations for both revenue and earnings. Revenue was essentially flat at $17.96B in the first quarter, below analysts’ consensus estimate of $18.25B. Adjusted earnings came in at $6.44 a share, below Wall Street expectations, pressured by unfavorable profit adjustments on the F-16 and C-130 programs as well as weaker margins in the Space unit.

PSYCHEDELIC-RELATED STOCKS rose after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at accelerating research and expanding access to these substances to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Compass Pathways (CMPS [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CMPS]) rose more than 42% on Monday, while AtaiBeckley (ATAI [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ATAI]) climbed almost 22%.

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS (CHTR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CHTR]) Fell on Friday after the company released its first-quarter results that included a larger-than-expected loss of broadband customers. The parent company of Spectrum mobile and internet services added 368K new mobile lines (versus +432K estimates) during the quarter but lost 120K Spectrum Internet customers (versus -100K estimates) amid increased promotions from its competitors.

UNITEDHEALTH (UNH [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UNH]) rose after the healthcare company reported better-than-expected Q1 results and increased its full-year earnings outlook. Q1 revenue grew 2% Y/Y to $111.7B, exceeding the consensus by $2.1B, thanks mainly to its insurance segment. Adj. EPS reached $7.23, largely unchanged from Q4 2025 but beating Street forecasts by $0.63.

MARVELL TECHNOLOGY (MRVL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MRVL]) gained on Monday after it was reported that the specialty semiconductor company may work with Google (GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG]) (GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]) on developing future artificial intelligence chips.

POET TECHNOLOGIES (POET [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/POET]) soared 105.7% over the week after the firm confirmed a business tie-up with Marvell Technologies in an interview with Stocktwits. CFO Thomas Mika told Stocktwits that the company had received a purchase order tied to Marvell (MRVL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MRVL]) and was awaiting responses on additional orders from manufacturing partners and customers, including Foxconn (FXCOF [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/FXCOF]) (HNHAF [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/HNHAF]) (HNHPF [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/HNHPF]) and Luxshare Precision.

Amazon (AMZN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AMZN])-backed nuclear startup X-ENERGY (XE [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XE]) raised nearly $1.02B in an upsized US initial public offering that priced above the marketed range. The Maryland-based company priced more than 44.25M shares at $23 each, above its marketed range of $16 to $19 per share. At that price, the company is valued at about $9.1B based on outstanding shares listed in its filings.

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