markets

Luke Kawa2/19/26

AppLovin gains amid report on its plans to launch a social networking platform

On Thursday, ad tech company AppLovin was reported to have designs on starting a social networking platform of its own after it was unable to get its hands on TikTok’s US operations.

This report came on the heels of a massive gain for the stock on Wednesday, though it’s unclear whether current gains are entirely to do with the potential foray, or if traders are just aiming to call a bottom in the stock after last week’s post-earnings tumble took shares below $360 for the first time since July.

The social network plans were discussed in a podcast days ago, and the company has had a job posting for a software engineer to build this platform, though a Bloomberg headline on the subject was only shared this morning.

“We aim to build a completely new next-generation social media platform,” Chief Product and Engineering Officer Giovanni Ge said on the “Valley 101” podcast.

He described the course the company is charting as the opposite of Meta’s, which started by gathering eyeballs and then built advertising around it.

Presumably, such a venture would give AppLovin more digital real estate to run ads, and any data it collects from its users may be useful in offering better targeted ads on other apps.

Last April, CNBC’s Marc Faber reported that the ad tech firm had made an offer for TikTok, and that the Trump administration had been “fully aware” of its interest.

AppLovin’s post-earnings swoon last week, despite solid Q4 results and a better-than-expected Q1 outlook, came as investors have worried about competitive threats to its business from new AI entrants as well as Meta.

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A New York bar is using Kalshi to offer patrons free drinks during the first Knicks Finals game

Sentences are being written that have never been written before.

NBA: MAY 31 NBA Finals Preview - New York Knicks

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Helena Cheng13m

Macy’s rises on Q1 earnings, revenue beat, and raised full-year outlook

Macy’s shares are rising Wednesday morning after the department store giant exceeded Wall Street expectations for Q1 and management lifted the company’s full-year guidance.

Key numbers:

Adjusted earnings per share of $0.13 (compared to analyst estimates of $0.04).
Revenue of $4.7 billion (estimate: $4.6 billion).

Macy’s raised its guidance for the full fiscal year and now projects full-year net sales between $21.5 billion and $21.75 billion, up from the previous range of $21.4 billion to $21.65 billion. Adjusted earnings per share also got an upgrade to between $2.00 and $2.20, compared to the prior view of $1.90 to $2.10.

Macy’s Q1 comparable sales increased 3%, exceeding the company’s guidance. The standout performer was Bloomingdale’s, where comparable sales surged 10.2%, capturing its seventh straight quarter of growth. Meanwhile, beauty and skin care retailer Bluemercury also posted a robust 6.4% comparable sales gain.

The company ended the first quarter of 2026 with cash and cash equivalents of $1.3 billion and had $2.0 billion of available borrowing capacity under its asset-based credit facility. Through its quarterly dividend, Macy’s returned $50 million in cash to shareholders in the first quarter of 2026.

“We’re off to a strong start to the year, exceeding expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter as our Bold New Chapter strategy continues to build momentum,” Tony Spring, chairman and CEO of Macy’s, said in a statement. “Customers are responding — driving comparable sales growth at Macy’s and another standout quarter at Bloomingdale’s, underscoring its leadership in modern luxury.” Spring’s “A Bold New Chapter” turnaround strategy, which was announced back in 2024, relies heavily on luxury expansion and store optimization to attract affluent consumers.

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GameStop pops as Q1 revenue, profit rise and retailer authorizes $2 billion of stock buybacks

GameStop shares popped after hours, as the company authorized a $2 billion stock buyback and posted a blockbuster fiscal first-quarter profit aided by unrealized gains on its options exposure to eBay stock.

Here are the numbers from the retail-trader favorite:

Adjusted EPS of $0.30, up from $0.17 a year earlier and above the $0.16 estimate of… precisely one analyst.
Revenue of $835.3 million, up 14% from a year earlier.
A $2 billion stock-buyback authorization, which is equivalent to about one-fifth of the company’s market cap.
A whopping $268 million unrealized gain because of its options exposure to eBay stock that it bought as it attempted to buy the online retailer. That led to a record quarterly net income of $389.6 million.
The highest first-quarter operating income ever, at $143.3 million – a number not aided by the gain in eBay stock, but rather by higher revenue and improved margins.

Shares rose 7.1% after hours.

The buyback authorization is a particularly interesting development for GameStop, which less than two years ago issued billions of dollars worth of shares as it took advantage of surging stock prices.

Of course, it’s worth noting that the buyback authorization can be used piecemeal fashion for the next three years, so any potential buybacks don’t have to happen anytime soon — or at all.

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GitLab shares soar on earnings and revenue beat

Shares of GitLab soared over 8% in after-hours trading after the company’s quarterly results beat analyst expectations for earnings and revenue.

For FY2027 Q1, the code development and security platform posted:

Revenues of $264.2 million (estimate: $254 million).
Adjusted earnings per share of $0.23 (estimate: $0.21).

In a press release, GitLab CEO Bill Staples wrote, “The agentic era is creating structural tailwinds for GitLab, and Q1 showed it clearly with accelerating platform activity and promising traction from GitLab Duo Agent Platform.”

As AI eats the software development world, platforms for human coders like GitLab are facing some existential threats. Last month, GitLab shares dropped after it announced a restructuring plan, slashing its country footprint by 30%, and today it confirmed that 350 team members would be cut. The company said it expects the restructing to be complete by the end of FY 2027.

Shares of GitLab were down about 15% year to date heading into the report.

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Nuclear stocks gain as federal officials approve plan to restart Three Mile Island

US officials have given Constellation Energy the green light to turn the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant back on.

On Monday night, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filed a waiver allowing the company to transfer grid rights from a gas-fired power plant outside Philadelphia to Three Mile Island. The company says that due to the waiver, it aims to restart the nuclear power facility by 2027 in order to supply Microsoft data centers with energy.

Additionally, other nuclear stocks like Oklo, GE Vernova, Energy Fuels, and Cameco Corp. traded higher Tuesday afternoon.

This comes after last week’s Energy Department announcement that it would provide weapons-grade plutonium to five energy startups, including Oklo, to be processed into fuel to generate electricity.

Companies have said these weapons stockpiles are a way to get nuclear reactors fueled quickly as the industry scales.

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