Investing.com’s Stocks of the Week

Following the positive trend from last week, the stock market has seen continued gains, although there has been some volatility coinciding with recent political events.

Here’s a summary of some notable stocks this week:

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) & Softbank (OTC: SFTBY)

This week, both Oracle and Softbank experienced a significant share price increase after announcing a joint venture called Stargate, in collaboration with OpenAI and MGX.

As part of this venture, which aims to invest as much as $500 billion to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in the U.S., President Trump endorsed the initiative.

According to RBC Capital, the lead partners for Stargate are Softbank and OpenAI, with OpenAI taking the operational lead and Softbank handling financial aspects. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Softbank, will chair the venture. Following the announcement, shares of Oracle increased by 7%, while Microsoft and Nvidia rose by 4%. The IGV (Information Technology Sector) noted a 2% gain.

This news also positively impacted other companies, including Microsoft, Nvidia, Arm, Broadcom, Dell, Arista Networks, and SMCI.

RBC added that while Microsoft is a "technology partner" in the Stargate initiative, it is not a funding member. They see this partnership as beneficial for both Microsoft and Oracle, given the new administration's focus on maintaining U.S. leadership in AI.

It was also noted that there may be doubts regarding how much Oracle’s stock movement was influenced by this joint venture versus developments surrounding TikTok.

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)

On Wednesday, Netflix shares surged after the company reported its latest quarterly earnings, which came out after market close on Tuesday. The results exceeded both revenue and earnings estimates.

Citi analysts remarked that Netflix’s Q4 revenue was approximately 1% above market expectations, and its operating income exceeded consensus estimates by 2%. Additionally, the company recorded 18.9 million new subscribers during the quarter, significantly outpacing the expected 9.6 million.

Although Netflix's outlook for the first quarter of 2025 fell short of estimates, it did raise its revenue and operating margin forecasts for 2025, which are above market expectations.

Many analysts adjusted their target prices upward following the earnings release, including Goldman Sachs, which raised its target to $960.

According to them, Netflix’s consistent messaging as it heads into 2025 indicates solid revenue growth, subscriber increases driven by advertising, rising operating margins, and a commitment to returning cash to shareholders through buyback initiatives.

Overall, these developments suggest that Netflix is on track for sustained double-digit revenue growth and margin expansion over the coming years.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA)

In contrast, Electronic Arts saw its shares plummet more than 16% on Thursday following a disappointing quarterly earnings report, which included reduced bookings guidance for both the third quarter and the entire year.

The reduced outlook was attributed to lower demand for its popular titles, EA Sports FC and Dragon Age.

EA’s CEO, Andrew Wilson, acknowledged that both Dragon Age and EA SPORTS FC 25 did not meet their expected net bookings.

In reaction to this report, Bank of America downgraded EA’s stock to Neutral from Buy, expressing skepticism about EA's capacity to capture enough player engagement and spending to achieve meaningful growth in a challenging PC and console gaming market.

Tempus AI

Lastly, shares of Tempus AI experienced a significant rally this week, starting with a dramatic increase of over 35% in Tuesday’s trading session. This surge followed the disclosure by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who reported purchasing call options in the company.

Pelosi's disclosure indicated she had acquired 50 call options for Tempus AI with a strike price of $20, set to expire on January 16, 2026, for a total investment ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.

On the same day, Tempus AI announced the national launch of its AI-enabled personal health concierge app, olivia.

Stocks, Earnings, AI