Meta, Microsoft soar on AI, cloud strength
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Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Good morning. Today is Thursday, May 1st. I'm Julie Morgan. Three of the Mag 7 are on our biggest movers list, including Microsoft and Meta. Tesla shuts down CEO chatter and Sam Altman's orbs are watching.

Microsoft is up 7% in pre-market action. Shares rallied after the company posted strong fiscal Q3 results, highlighted by Azure revenue growth of 33%, topping market expectations of 31% and a 20% year-over-year rise in Microsoft Cloud. The company forecasted sustained strength in its cloud and AI businesses through Q4 and into fiscal 2026. Microsoft is up 7% in pre-market action.

Meta Platforms is also on our biggest movers list, up 5% pre-market. Shares advanced after the company reported a robust Q1 beat, with revenue rising 16% year-over-year, profit surging 35% and operating margin expanding to 41% from 38% a year earlier.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited strong business momentum and AI advancements, highlighting nearly 1 billion monthly actives for Meta AI. Daily active people on the family of apps climbed 6% to 3.43 billion, beating expectations.

Ad impressions rose 5% year over year, while the average price per ad increased 10%. We're taking a deeper dive into Microsoft and Meta and giving you a preview of Amazon and Apple due to report today in the Wall Street Breakfast newsletter. We have a link to sign up for the newsletter in show notes.

If you were on Seeking Alpha less than 12 hours ago, you saw an article that said Tesla's board reportedly started the CEO search process before Elon Musk pulled back from Doge. Well, as you wake this morning, that news is being refuted by Tesla's board chair, Robin Denholm.

The Wall Street Journal reported that board members had reached out to several executive search firms about a month ago to begin the formal process to find a new CEO. Denholm, however, called the news absolutely false and said this was communicated to the media before the report was published. She said in a quote posted by Tesla's official account on X,

that the CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said after the board's statement that we believe this was a warning shot from the board given Doge issues, but Musk read the room and chose Tesla on the conference call last week. We see Musk as the CEO of Tesla for at least another five years, he said.

Tools for Humanity, the startup co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is preparing to deploy thousands of its eyeball-scanning orb devices across the U.S., signaling a significant expansion of its identity verification services.

Beginning this week, residents in six U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, will have the opportunity to scan their eyes using a spherical orb device at select locations. Tools for Humanity leads the World Project, which aims to create a global identity system through scanning people's irises in exchange for cryptocurrency and a digital ID.

The venture also announced partnerships with Visa and online dating giant Match Group. Now let's check in on the trending articles that you can find on Seeking Alpha. The Trump administration is said to be investing $500 million on developing universal vaccines. Japanese retail giant Seven and I opens its books to Canadian suitor Couchtard.

And Ford is said to abandon an effort to develop a Tesla-like electronic brain. On our Catalyst Watch for the Day, Lee Auto, NIO, Xpeng, BYD Company, and Zeekr Intelligent will be on watch with monthly deliveries, reports do. By the way, at least one of those, Lee Auto, has already reported as of the time of this recording.

The Macau Gross Gaming Revenue Report for April is also expected to be a potential share price mover for Melco Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, and MGM. Analysts have also circled the National Instant Criminal Background Check System Firearm Checks Report as a potential share price mover for Smith & Wesson Brands and RGR.

Another intriguing release will be the Class 8 truck orders update from ACT. Allison Transmission, Cummins, Wabash National, Meritor, Eaton, Volvo Group and Navistar have seen share price moves in the past in reaction to the update and forecast.

Now for a look at the markets today ahead of the opening bell. Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is down 2.5% at $56 a barrel. Bitcoin is up 1.5% at $95,000. Gold is down 1.6% at $3,218.

Major markets in Europe are closed today for the Labor Day holiday, including Germany and France. And most major Asian stock markets were closed today, including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and others. Those markets observed the Labor Day holiday as well.

Amazon is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market. AMZN is up 4% after the e-commerce giant announced a $4 billion investment to expand its delivery network across small-town America, aiming to boost speed and reach. Amazon is due to report earnings today after the closing bell.

On today's economic calendar, at 9.45 a.m., PMI Manufacturing Final and at 10 a.m., ISM Manufacturing Index. That's it for today's Wall Street Breakfast. Thanks for listening. For a full offering of news, analysis, ratings, and data on stocks and ETFs, become a premium subscriber. Learn more at SeekingAlpha.com slash subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day.

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