Ulta Beauty on Tuesday reported quarterly results that beat on the top and bottom lines and hiked its earnings outlook as the retailer saw a strong start to its fiscal year.

Shares of the company rose as much as 7% in extended trading.

Here’s how the company performed in its fiscal first quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $7.74 vs. $6.86 expected
• Revenue: $3.16 billion vs. $3.10 billion expected

For the three-month period ended May 2, Ulta saw net sales increase roughly 11% compared to the year-ago period. It reported comparable sales rose 5.3%, compared to StreetAccount estimates of up 4.6%.

Ulta reaffirmed its full-year same-store sales and revenue projections, but raised its full-year EPS guidance to between $28.36 and $28.80. Its previous outlook was earnings per share between $28.05 and $28.55.

“Fiscal 2026 is off to a strong start driven by broad-based growth across all channels and major categories,” CEO Kecia Steelman said in a statement. “Our results demonstrate the strengths of our model, focused execution of our talented associates and the effectiveness of our strategy in an uncertain macroeconomic landscape.”

On a call with analysts on Tuesday, Steelman said the launch of Ulta’s TikTok Shop, with a focus on Ulta-specific products, during the quarter contributed to its success. The company also launched more than 20 new brands during the quarter, including Selena Gomez’s popular makeup brand, Rare Beauty.

The company said its strongest category for the quarter was fragrances, increasing from 11% to 12% of total revenue.

The earnings come as consumer confidence takes a dip amid soaring gas prices and rising inflation, leading to a pullback in discretionary spending.

“We are operating from a position of strength in this environment and have multiple levers to satisfy guests’ value needs,” Steelman said on the call.

Qualcomm shares surged 12% on Friday and are now up 75% in the past month, as the chipmaker’s increasingly central position in the physical AI boom becomes more apparent to Wall Street. The stock is trading at a record.

Although Qualcomm has fallen behind giants like Nvidia in the race for chips to power AI models and workloads, the company is using its dominance in smartphones to cement its role as a key player in connected devices, whether it’s eyeglasses, cars or robots.

OpenAI is also reportedly partnering with Qualcomm to develop an AI chip that could power a coming device run by AI agents.

“This company will be back in its former glory and will lead the connected device revolution,” said Ivan Feinseth, an analyst at Tigress Financial Partners who rates Qualcomm a buy. Investors are “waking up to this fact,” he said.

Regarding Qualcomm’s work with OpenAI, Feinseth said he’s bullish about the forthcoming device, calling it a “phone that will be an AI-based operating system that will do everything.”

Qualcomm is core to a plethora of gadgets doing AI at the so-called edge, instead of in the cloud. That includes Microsoft’s Surface PCs and smartglasses from Google and Meta. Its Arm-based chips offer an energy-efficient alternative to those made by central processor leaders Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

On Thursday, Qualcomm announced a deal with automaker Stellantis, which said it will use the chipmaker’s Snapdragon processors to “support advanced, unified compute power across the entire vehicle, including cockpit, connectivity and advanced driver assist systems.”

Stellantis owns a broad portfolio of brands, including Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep and Maserati.

“Customers will be able to enjoy a smooth, immersive, and safe auto-drive experience on city and highway roads, with multiple driving modes to choose from,” said Ned Curic, Stellantis’ head of product development, at the company’s investor day on Thursday.

Qualcomm has struck similar deals with Bosch, Volkswagen, Hyundai and BMW. In its most recent earnings report, Qualcomm said revenue in its automotive business climbed 38% from a year earlier to $1.3 billion. More than 1 million cars already operate their autonomous systems on Qualcomm processors, according to the company.

Friday’s stock pop is also tied to investor excitement around an entirely new business segment for Qualcomm: data center chips.

Announced last year, Qualcomm’s coming AI200 and AI250 are custom AI accelerators — a more programmable type of chip than Nvidia’s graphics processing units that have dominated AI workloads thus far. The chips are supposed to go on sale later this year, available in a full rack-scale system similar to Nvidia’s Vera Rubin and AMD’s coming Helios system.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said on the company’s earnings call in April that it would begin shipping data center chips to “a large hyperscaler” within the calendar year. Investors could hear more when Amon delivers a keynote address at the Computex conference in Taiwan on June 2, and at Qualcomm’s investor day on June 24.

—CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevelos contributed to this report

WATCH: How Qualcomm is betting big on AI and auto to hold onto wireless dominance

E-commerce stocks that were exposed to President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs rallied Friday, after the Supreme Court struck down a key pillar of the president’s economic agenda.

In a 6-3 ruling, the court said Trump does not have the legal authority to impose tariffs under the International Economic Powers Act, the method by which many of the levies were invoked. IEEPA does not explicitly mention tariffs.

The decision sent Amazon and Wayfair‘s stock up 2%, while Etsy climbed 8%. Shares of Shopify rose 1% and eBay popped 3%. Pinduoduo Holdings, the parent company of ultracheap online marketplace Temu, jumped 2%.

Trump’s sweeping tariffs have been greatly disruptive to e-commerce companies that provide a platform for online businesses to hawk their wares.

In some cases, the tariffs have eaten into margins and forced businesses to lay off staff, raise prices or radically alter their supply chains.

Trump also invoked the IEEPA law when he announced the removal of the “de minimis” exemption, which allowed low-value packages to arrive in the U.S. without trade duties.

That dealt a blow to many small business owners on Etsy, eBay and Shopify who relied on the provision to support their marketplace businesses.

It also threatened to dismantle Temu and Shein’s businesses in the U.S.

The bargain retailers used the loophole to ship packages to American shoppers directly from China duty-free. In response, Temu briefly halted direct shipments from China. Both companies have since built up bigger seller bases and logistics operations in the U.S.

The end of de minimis and other dramatic changes in tariff policies, combined with a gloomy economic backdrop, have also weighed on consumer sentiment.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC in an interview last month that Trump’s tariffs have started to “creep” into the price of some items.

The company has observed some people trading down to lower-priced items and bargain hunting, while others are showing more hesitation around higher-priced discretionary items.

Etsy said in its annual report on Thursday that its business has been pressured by a pullback in discretionary spending and “evolving buyer behavior.”

“There is considerable uncertainty regarding the evolving tariff landscape, how recent changes to de minimis exemptions may play out, and the impact higher tariffs might have on consumer demand and discretionary wallet share,” the company wrote in its 10-K filing.

The online marketplace, which hosts many small businesses and artisan makers, also gave tepid guidance for first-quarter gross merchandise sales. CFO Lanny Baker said Etsy’s forecast assumes macroeconomic conditions remain “stable relative to where they are at present.”

Representatives from Etsy and Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the SCOTUS ruling.

The National Retail Federation, a major trade group, said in a statement that the ruling provides “much-needed certainty for U.S. businesses and manufacturers, enabling global supply chains to operate without ambiguity.”

Companies could now move to recover billions in tariff costs, with some already filing lawsuits in advance of the court’s decision.

Apple has paid about $3.3 billion in tariffs so far.

Chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices led an industrywide rally in the U.S. on Thursday, alongside semiconductor manufacturers like Applied Materials, after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported better-than-expected earnings.

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company and the leader in artificial intelligence processors, closed up more than 2% on Thursday. Smaller rival AMD closed up almost 2%. Broadcom, which makes custom chips for AI workloads, was up about 1% at Thursday’s close.

TSMC, the biggest contract chipmaker, reported a 35% increase in fourth-quarter profit, beating estimates, and said it expects to boost capital spending in 2026, signaling confidence in the AI buildout. Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom are all TSMC customers.

“We expect our business to be supported by continued strong demand for our leading edge process technologies,” said TSMC finance chief Wendell Huang during an earnings call. Shares of TSMC jumped more than 6%.

The report landed ahead of tech earnings season in the U.S., which kicks off next week with struggling chipmaker Intel. Apple, Tesla, Meta and Microsoft are scheduled to announce results the following week.

The VanEck Semiconductor exchange-traded fund, which counts Nvidia, TSMC and Broadcom as its top constituents, closed up 2% on Thursday.

Memory storage maker Micron, the No. 4 member in the group, finished Thursday up about 1%. Lam Research, a maker of chip equipment, closed up 4%, while Analog Devices closed up 1%.

WATCH: How Broadcom could be boosted by Google’s in-house chips

Shares of Nvidia rose more than 3% in premarket trade on Wednesday, putting the tech giant on track to become the first company to cross the $5 trillion market value threshold.

The extraordinary milestone would reflect a remarkable rise for the company, which has evolved from a niche video game processor to an integral player in the artificial intelligence boom.

Shares of Nvidia were last seen up 3.2% in premarket trade. The stock price has climbed nearly 50% year-to-date.

The latest move higher comes shortly after CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia expects $500 billion in artificial intelligence chip orders and announced plans to build seven new supercomputers for the U.S. government.

Separately, Nvidia announced on Tuesday that it is taking a $1 billion stake in Nokia, forming a strategic partnership with the networking company to develop next-generation 6G cellular technology.

A dizzying rally for U.S. tech stocks has prompted some to raise the alarm on fears of an AI bubble, particularly as AI-driven spending has led to record deals and valuations.

Earlier in the month, the International Monetary Fund and Bank of England became the latest financial institutions to warn that global stock markets could be in trouble if investor appetite for AI turns sour.

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Shenzhen-listed Luxshare saw its shares jump about 10% on Monday, following a report that the Chinese device assembler had signed a deal with OpenAI to produce a consumer AI device. 

The company, which is also a supplier for Apple, is already developing a prototype of the device using ChatGPT large language models, The Information reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

One source said that one of the products OpenAI has talked to suppliers about making would resemble a smart speaker without a display, which could put it in competition with Apple devices using Siri, with the company targeting late 2026 or early 2027 for its first device launches.

Luxshare’s 10% jump brought its year-to-date gains to about 50%. Most stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange aren’t allowed to trade up or down more than 10% in a single day, relative to the previous day’s closing price. The company is also reportedly considering a secondary listing in Hong Kong this year. 

Luxshare and OpenAI did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment. 

OpenAI has long been signaling a desire to push into dedicated AI devices, presenting a potential challenge to Apple and its iPhone. 

As part of these plans, The Information reported that OpenAI has been poaching staff from Apple to join its hardware division, now led by ex-Apple executive Tang Tan.

Earlier this year, the AI company, headed by Sam Altman, partnered with former Apple designer Jony Ive after buying his hardware startup, io Products, in a $6.4 billion deal. Ive is responsible for designing many of Apple’s most iconic products, including the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air.

An OpenAI partnership with Luxshare would bring Apple’s longtime supplier — responsible for assembling items like the AirPods and Vision Pro — into the AI comapny’s orbit.

The AI company has also approached China-based Goertek, which also assembles AirPods, HomePods and Apple Watches, to provide components, including speaker modules, for its planned devices, according to the Information report.

OpenAI has been pushing deeper into hardware, hiring the former head of Meta’s Orion augmented reality glasses initiative in November to lead its robotics and consumer hardware efforts.

In the same month, OpenAI invested in robot startup Physical Intelligence, which focuses on “bringing general-purpose AI into the physical world,” according to its website.

Carnival shares climbed nearly 7% on Tuesday after the cruise line posted stronger-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its full-year guidance.

According to the company’s earnings report, the cruise operator posted adjusted earnings of 35 cents per share while beating analysts’ estimates of 24 cents, according to LSEG. Adjusted revenue came in at a record $6.3 billion compared with the expected $6.2 billion.

Net income rose to $565 million, which was a significant increase from $92 million a year ago.

CEO Josh Weinstein said on Tuesday’s earnings call with analysts that there was a “strong momentum” across all of the company’s brands.

Due to outperformance, Carnival raised its full-year guidance and said it now expects adjusted net income to be 40% higher than 2024, which is about $200 million more than its March forecast.

Meanwhile, the cruise line said it expects full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, to be $6.9 billion, up from a prior estimate of $6.7 billion.

Weinstein noted in the earnings call that it is less than a month away from the opening of the island Celebration Key in the Bahamas. Carnival’s island is expected to open on July 19.

Cruise demand remains strong post-pandemic, with higher prices and fuller ships expected to push profits closer to pre-pandemic levels, according to NerdWallet.

Oracle shares soared 13% on Thursday to a record close, after the database software vendor issued robust earnings and a strong forecast, fueled by growth in cloud.

Revenue climbed 11% year over year during the fiscal fourth quarter to $15.9 billion, topping the $15.59 billion average estimate, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.70 exceeded the average analyst estimate of $1.64.

“All told, ORCL has entered an entirely new wave of enterprise popularity that it has not seen since the Internet era in the late 90s,” Piper Sandler analysts wrote in a note to clients. The firm was one of several to lift its price target on the stock, raising its prediction to $190 from $130.

Oracle has been making headway in the cloud infrastructure market to challenge Amazon, Google and Microsoft. It’s still small by comparison, with $3 billion in cloud revenue during the May quarter, compared with over $12 billion for Google, which counts productivity software subscriptions and cloud infrastructure sales when reporting cloud metrics. But Oracle’s business is growing faster.

Future expansion can also come from sales of Oracle’s database on clouds other than its own.

“The growth rate in multi-cloud is astonishing,” Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said on Wednesday’s conference call with analysts. “In other words, our database is now moving very rapidly to the cloud, I think because – a few reasons, because the database has now all these AI capabilities, but also, quite frankly, now people can get it in whatever cloud they want.”

Remaining performance obligations, a measurement of money that’s expected to be recognized as revenue in the future, sat at $138 billion, up 41% from a year earlier. Oracle CEO Safra Catz said RPO will likely more than double in the 2026 fiscal year, which ends in May 2026. Revenue for the new fiscal year should come in above $67 billion, she said. That’s higher than LSEG’s $65.18 billion consensus.

Gains from OpenAI’s Stargate artificial intelligence data center project, targeting $500 billion in investments over four years, are not yet included in forecasts.

“If Stargate turns out to be everything as advertised, then we’ve understated our RPO growth,” Ellison said.

For fiscal 2029, revenue should be above the $104 billion target the company set in September, Catz said.

Still, the company faces the challenge of meeting client demand in cloud.

“Demand continues to dramatically outstrip supply,” Catz said, though she added that the company isn’t having trouble sourcing Nvidia graphics processing units.

Analysts at RBC, who recommend holding the stock, raised their price target to $195 to $145. But they noted that, “with the backdrop of continued capacity constraints, we struggle to see a path to meaningful acceleration in the near term.”

WATCH: Oracle shares hit record high