Arm Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARM) surged 16.2% to $298.23, its second consecutive double-digit gain, after markets absorbed NVIDIA Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NVDA) blockbuster fiscal first-quarter results and repriced the chip licensing model sharply higher. Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) added 4.1% as investors revisited the company's fiscal 2026 AI-server record against Nvidia's own accelerating demand signals. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) advanced 0.85%, well ahead of the broader market; the S&P 500 gained 0.17% and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.09%.
Today's biggest movers
| Ticker | Close | Day | 1mo | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $ARM | $298.23 | +16.16% | +45.76% | +159.94% |
| $DELL | $252.80 | +4.06% | +19.17% | +97.81% |
| $LRCX | $302.24 | +3.47% | +16.89% | +63.32% |
| $DDOG | $218.04 | +2.73% | +70.53% | +63.00% |
| $ASML | $1,592.00 | +2.70% | +12.29% | +36.80% |
| $MDB | $317.50 | -3.54% | +23.01% | -20.56% |
| $NOW | $99.69 | -3.49% | +17.59% | -32.39% |
| $BIDU | $131.18 | -2.99% | +7.94% | -12.72% |
| $CRM | $176.31 | -2.10% | +1.74% | -30.48% |
| $NVDA | $219.51 | -1.77% | +9.95% | +16.24% |
Arm's two-day run: 34% in 48 hours as Nvidia validates the chip licensing model
Arm Holdings capped a stunning 48-hour sequence on Thursday, adding a further 16.2% to close at $298.23 and bringing its cumulative two-session gain to roughly 34%. The catalyst is Nvidia's fiscal first-quarter FY2027 results, released after Wednesday's close, which showed revenue of $81.6 billion against a consensus of $78.9 billion, with net income of $58.3 billion versus analyst estimates of $42.9 billion. For ARM, the implications are structural: every Nvidia Grace Blackwell server CPU running at scale carries ARM architecture royalties, meaning per-unit licensing revenue grows in direct proportion to AI silicon deployment. Wednesday's 15% ARM rally on AGI CPU architecture developments primed the stock; Nvidia's numbers confirmed the thesis.
Analyst consensus has moved decisively bullish. Twenty-three of 28 covering firms carry a Buy or equivalent rating, with street price targets lifted to an average of $218.35 in recent sessions. Wells Fargo analyst Joe Quatrochi raised his target to $220 from $175, maintaining an Overweight rating and citing ARM's "AI infrastructure positioning" as the core rationale. Goldman Sachs, Mizuho, Barclays, and Evercore ISI have also revised targets higher. ARM now trades well above the consensus target, which historically signals either stretched valuation or the opening of another round of estimate revisions from the buy side.
Dell's AI server machine: $9 billion in a single quarter, $142 billion guided for FY2027
Dell Technologies jumped 4.1% to $252.80 as Nvidia's demand signals reinforced the bull case for AI server infrastructure. Dell's fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 results, reported earlier this year, showed revenue of $33.4 billion, 5.4% ahead of the $31.7 billion consensus and up 39% year over year. AI-optimized server revenue reached $9.0 billion in that quarter, up 342% year over year, with Dell closing more than $64 billion in AI server orders across the full fiscal year and shipping more than $25 billion. The company entered fiscal 2027 carrying a record $43 billion backlog. Full-year fiscal 2026 revenue reached $113.5 billion.
Management guided fiscal 2027 revenue to $138.0 to $142.0 billion, with AI-optimized server revenue expected at approximately $50.0 billion, a roughly 70% step-up from fiscal 2026 levels. The H200 export clearance that drove last week's sector rally adds a further tailwind, as Dell is among the primary assemblers of Nvidia-based compute clusters for U.S. hyperscalers and enterprise buyers. With DELL up 97.8% year to date, the central question heading into fiscal 2027 is whether $50 billion in AI server revenue represents a floor or a ceiling.