Benzinga Bulls And Bears: Microsoft, Meta, UnitedHealth — And Warsh Pick Jolts Markets

Benzinga examined the prospects for many investors' favorite stocks over the last week — here's a look at some of our top stories.

U.S. stocks ended a volatile week under pressure after President Donald Trump nominated former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, unsettling investors already on edge from inflation concerns and mixed earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all slid as the announcement triggered a sharp reversal in currency and commodity markets, with the dollar strengthening and precious metals tumbling. Despite Friday's losses, the S&P 500 still managed a modest weekly gain, snapping a two-week losing streak, while January ended higher for all three major benchmarks.

Market volatility intensified following a dramatic selloff in gold and silver, which suffered their steepest declines in decades after a powerful multi-week rally. Investors interpreted Warsh's nomination — seen as signaling a more hawkish Fed stance — as a risk to expectations for aggressive rate cuts, prompting broad repositioning across assets. Treasury yields edged higher, equities retreated, and commodities gave back substantial recent gains as traders reassessed monetary policy risks.

Corporate earnings added to the turbulence, led by a sharp drop in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) shares despite stronger-than-expected results, as investors focused on slowing Azure growth and cautious forward guidance. In contrast, Meta (NASDAQ: META) rallied on robust advertising and engagement trends, while memory-chip makers extended strong year-to-date gains on tight supply and AI-driven demand.

Benzinga provides daily reports on the stocks most popular with investors. Here are a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that are worth another look.

The Bulls

"Apple Blows Past Q1 Earnings Estimates On ‘Unprecedented' iPhone Demand, Active Installed Base Crosses 2.5 Billion," by Adam Eckert, reports that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) crushed fiscal Q1 expectations as revenue surged to $143.76 billion and EPS climbed to $2.84, driven by what CEO Tim Cook called "unprecedented" iPhone demand, record services revenue, and expanding global momentum — pushing the company's active installed base past 2.5 billion devices for the first time and reinforcing investor optimism around sustained growth into 2026.

"Meta Stock Jumps On Q4 Earnings Beat, Strong Guidance Despite Higher Expenses Forecast," by Adam Eckert, reports that Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) surged after crushing Q4 expectations with adjusted EPS of $8.88 on revenue of $59.89 billion, topping estimates on strong advertising demand and AI-driven growth, while issuing upbeat forward guidance despite forecasting sharply higher spending, including 2026 capital expenditures of $115 billion to $135 billion, as the company accelerates investments in data centers, compute infrastructure, and next-generation AI models.

"Nuwellis Stock Surges 100% As $2 Microcap Beats Big Pharma In Infant Healthcare," by Surbhi Jain, reports that Nuwellis Inc. (NASDAQ: NUWE) shares more than doubled after the microcap medical device maker unveiled a boardroom shakeup and secured a new U.S. patent covering pediatric fluid management technology, signaling a breakthrough in infant healthcare and positioning the company to challenge much larger pharmaceutical players, as investors piled into the stock on expectations of accelerated adoption, improved reimbursement dynamics, and expanding clinical use of its Aquadex ultrafiltration platform.

For additional bullish calls of the past week, check out the following:

IBM Stock Surges As Q4 Earnings Top Estimates: ‘We Enter 2026 With Momentum'

SanDisk Stock Soars After Q2 Blowout Earnings, Blockbuster Q3 Guidance

Tesla Stock Rises On Potential Tie-Up With SpaceX

The Bears

"UnitedHealth, Humana, CVS Shares Get Crushed As Trump Administration Proposes Lower-Than-Expected Medicare Insurer Rates," by Adam Eckert, reports that UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH), Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) and CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) shares plunged after the Trump administration proposed a sharply lower-than-expected 2027 Medicare Advantage rate increase of just 0.09%, far below Wall Street expectations of 4% to 6%, fueling fears of margin pressure, weaker earnings growth and a tougher regulatory outlook for insurers heavily dependent on government reimbursement.

"Software Stock Selloff: Microsoft, Palantir, Oracle, AppLovin, AI Market Disruptions Analysis," by Piero Cingari, reports that a sharp selloff across Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR), Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) and AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ:APP) reflects growing investor unease over stretched valuations, heavy AI-driven capital spending and slowing monetization, as markets reassess the sustainability of the AI-fueled rally and rotate away from high-multiple software stocks amid rising macro and execution risks.

"Nucor Stock Drops On Q4 Earnings Miss Despite Signaling Improvement In Q1," by Adam Eckert, reports that Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) shares slid after the steelmaker posted adjusted Q4 EPS of $1.73, missing Wall Street estimates of $1.86, and revenue of $7.69 billion, also below expectations, as lower volumes and margin pressure in its steel mills segment weighed on results, even as management pointed to seasonally improving demand, stronger order backlogs and a more constructive outlook for Q1 and 2026.

For more bearish takes, be sure to see these posts:

Fractyl Health Shares Drop, Eyes New FDA Route For Its Lead Product

Joby Stock Dives After The Bell: Here's Why

Qorvo Stock Tumbles On Q3 Earnings As Outlook Disappoints

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.