Stock Markets February 3, 2026

Mixed Market Momentum: Palantir, Woodward Rally as IBM, PayPal Slide

Broad moves across mega-, large-, mid- and small-cap stocks reflect earnings, leadership changes and corporate actions

By Priya Menon IBM MU AVGO NVDA ORCL
Mixed Market Momentum: Palantir, Woodward Rally as IBM, PayPal Slide
IBM MU AVGO NVDA ORCL

Trading on Tuesday produced a broad set of winners and losers across market-cap segments. Palantir and several industrial and materials names rose, while established technology and payments companies led declines. The session featured pronounced swings in individual stocks tied to earnings, guidance, leadership changes and corporate transactions.

Key Points

  • Company-specific developments - including earnings, analyst upgrades and CEO appointments - drove large swings across mega-, large-, mid- and small-cap stocks.
  • Industrial and specialty names such as Woodward, GE Vernova-linked GEV and DaVita posted strong gains after positive results or corporate actions, while technology and payments names like IBM and PayPal registered sharp declines.
  • Product announcements from large suppliers and completed acquisitions contributed to share-price movement in related sectors.

Equity markets on Tuesday displayed sizable divergence among individual names, with moves driven by company-specific news and earnings-related reactions. Traders saw significant declines in some large technology and software names while other equities, including industrial and specialty stocks, posted sharp gains.

Mega-cap movers

  • IBM slipped 7.45% during the session.
  • Micron Technology declined 4.52%.
  • Avago Technologies (Broadcom) dropped 3.53% after unveiling a new Wi-Fi 8 solution for AI-ready networks.
  • Nvidia fell 2.93%.
  • Oracle eased 2.87% following an announcement of an AI-powered platform for retail banking.
  • Palantir gained 5.54% after Baird upgraded the stock to Outperform, citing AI strength and free-cash-flow potential.
  • PepsiCo rose 4.56%.
  • Home Depot increased 3.40%.
  • Merck advanced 2.69%.
  • GE Vernova rose 3.50% after completing the acquisition of the remaining Prolec GE stake for $5.3 billion.

Large-cap moves

  • Gartner fell sharply, down 22.23%.
  • PayPal dropped 17.87% after naming HP's Enrique Lores as its new CEO, effective March 1.
  • Rambus shares tumbled 17.06% following an in-line earnings report.
  • Fabrinet declined 15.25%.
  • EPAM Systems fell 10.69%.
  • TransDigm eased 10.74% despite a first-quarter earnings beat.
  • HubSpot dropped 10.02%.
  • Figure Technology slipped 10.5% after a Bank of America Securities downgrade citing valuation concerns.
  • Woodward surged 13.98% as its first-quarter results and guidance topped analyst expectations.
  • Rocket Companies jumped 12.55%.

Mid-cap action

  • DaVita jumped 24.71% on fourth-quarter earnings and revenue results that beat estimates.
  • Inflection Point Acquisition II rose 15.97%.
  • Ikonics/related TeraWulf activity lifted Wulff (WULF) 10.42% after strategic site acquisitions.
  • NIQ Global Intelligence fell 12.73%.
  • Galaxy Digital Holdings declined 11.36%.
  • Graphic Packaging slipped 11.39% after a Q4 earnings miss offset a revenue beat.
  • Manhattan Associates fell 10.73%.
  • StubHub declined 10.62%.
  • FactSet eased 9.52%.
  • York Space Systems dropped 6.74%.

Small-cap results

  • Polaryx Therapeutics surged 243.14%.
  • Rotor Acquisition rose 19.06% amid news that Palladyne AI secured a defense contract for a missile propulsion subsystem.
  • United States Antimony climbed 14.06%.
  • Sigma Lithium US increased 13.76%.
  • VenHub Global declined 19.43%.
  • Phoenix Asia Holdings fell 18.69%.
  • RPC Inc. missed earnings expectations while posting revenue above consensus, and the stock dropped 16.62%.
  • National Research Corporation fell 16.76%.
  • LegalZoom declined 14.69%.
  • FuboTV fell 22.02%.

Overall, Tuesday's trading highlighted concentration of risk and opportunity at the individual-stock level. Earnings beats and upgrades produced outsized rallies in names such as DaVita, Woodward and Palantir, while leadership changes, in-line results and earnings misses weighed heavily on several large- and mid-cap stocks. Corporate actions, including Broadcom's product release and GE Vernova's acquisition closing, also factored into price movement for related companies.

Market participants should note the variety of drivers behind the moves: analyst upgrades, earnings outcomes, executive appointments and completed transactions all contributed to the day's dispersion in returns across market-cap segments.


Key takeaways

  • Company-specific news dominated stock moves across market-cap categories.
  • Earnings beats and analyst upgrades produced notable upside in select names, while leadership changes and earnings misses pressured others.
  • Corporate transactions and product announcements affected sentiment for related industrial and technology issuers.

Risks

  • Earnings misses and in-line results prompted steep declines in several companies, highlighting earnings risk for market participants - this impacts technology, software and services sectors.
  • Leadership changes can introduce uncertainty and heavy selling pressure, as seen with the PayPal CEO transition - this affects the payments and fintech sectors.
  • Valuation-driven downgrades and mixed guidance can rapidly change sentiment, posing risks to investors in both large- and mid-cap stocks.

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