# ServiceNow jumps 7% on Q2 beat as ARM and Intel tumble; chip equipment selloff sends SOXX down 4.4% _ServiceNow surged 7.4% on a strong Q2 earnings beat while Intel fell 8% despite record revenue, as capex expansion plans rattled investors. ARM slid 8% ahead of its July 29 report and chip equipment stocks extended a month-long rout, sending SOXX down 4.4%._ **Published:** 2026-07-24 **Source:** https://www.startuphub.ai/ai-news/ai-stocks-daily/2026/ai-stocks-2026-07-24 --- **ServiceNow's second-quarter earnings beat drove enterprise software stocks sharply higher on Thursday, while chip-equipment names cratered alongside a fresh sell-off in Arm Holdings, sending the iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF down 4.4% for one of its worst single sessions in months.** The S&P 500 closed nearly flat at 7,412, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6%, masking a stark bifurcation between software names advancing on earnings catalysts and semiconductors retreating on valuation and capital-spending concerns. What we track This recap analyzes the top 25 publicly-listed AI stocks selected by these criteria: **chips and chip equipment** ($NVDA, $AVGO, $AMD, $ARM, $INTC, $TSM, $ASML, $AMAT, $LRCX, $SMCI, $DELL); **hyperscalers and AI labs** ($MSFT, $GOOGL, $AMZN, $META, $ORCL, $CRM, $NOW); **pure-play AI and data infrastructure** ($PLTR, $SNOW, $MDB, $DDOG); **AI-adjacent security and platform** ($CRWD, $NET, $PANW); plus **$TSLA** for autonomy and **$BIDU** for the China-AI overhang. Macro reference: $SOXX (semis ETF), S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite. End-of-day prices via Yahoo Finance. ## Today's biggest movers | Ticker | Close | Day | 1mo | YTD | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | $NOW | $98.78 | +7.44% | +10.34% | -33.01% | | $CRM | $163.66 | +4.29% | +8.97% | -35.47% | | $SNOW | $268.06 | +1.11% | +18.06% | +23.70% | | $DDOG | $246.86 | +1.01% | +11.73% | +84.54% | | $GOOGL | $319.74 | +0.65% | -6.97% | +1.46% | | $ARM | $260.01 | -8.14% | -25.22% | +126.63% | | $INTC | $92.32 | -7.89% | -30.52% | +134.43% | | $AMAT | $536.25 | -4.72% | -19.72% | +99.45% | | $LRCX | $305.21 | -4.56% | -24.04% | +64.92% | | $ORCL | $114.99 | -4.21% | -24.58% | -41.24% | ## ServiceNow jumps 7% on a decisive second-quarter earnings beat ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) surged 7.4% to $98.78 after reporting Q2 earnings per share of $0.90, beating the analyst consensus of $0.76 by 18%, according to data compiled by TipRanks. Revenue for the quarter came in at approximately $4.0 billion, and management raised its full-year subscription revenue forecast to between $15.735 billion and $15.775 billion. The guidance lift reinforced the view that AI-driven workflow automation is translating into durable enterprise spending despite a tightening macro environment. The quarter arrived as a meaningful relief after ServiceNow shares had declined more than 50% from their 52-week high ahead of the print, reflecting sector-wide concern about software valuations and margin compression from AI investment. Analysts at Simply Wall St. had flagged margin pressure as a leading risk into the quarter; the result suggested those concerns are, for now, better-than-feared. NOW has declined 33% year-to-date, leaving substantial ground to recover if subscription momentum continues into the second half. Analyst targets are still being reset. DA Davidson, carrying a Buy rating, lowered its target to $170, while Cantor Fitzgerald raised its target to $141 with an Overweight rating. The spread underscores that while the earnings beat is unambiguous, consensus on fair value after a sharp sector re-rating remains wide open. Thursday's print provides the first concrete evidence that the reset may have gone far enough. [NOW chart by TradingView](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/NASDAQ-NOW/?aff_id=158908) ## Intel falls 8% despite the fastest revenue growth in 15 years The session's sharpest paradox was Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), which shed 7.9% to $92.32 a day after posting its most robust quarterly result in over a decade. Q2 2026 revenue came in at $16.1 billion, up 25.4% year-over-year and well ahead of the Wall Street consensus of $14.44 billion, per Bloomberg. Non-GAAP earnings of $0.42 per share were nearly double the $0.22 estimate. The data center segment drove the outperformance, with revenue of $6.3 billion, up 59% year-over-year, as Intel gains traction in the ongoing agentic-computing infrastructure cycle. Investors sold the news on a single concern: management flagged a "meaningful increase" in capital expenditure for next year as Intel aggressively builds out its contract-manufacturing operation. Capex anxiety has been a recurring theme this earnings season; as covered in the [July 23 recap](https://www.startuphub.ai/ai-news/ai-stocks-daily/2026/ai-stocks-2026-07-23), Alphabet and Tesla both saw sharp post-earnings selloffs partly tied to elevated spending commitments. With a Hold consensus across 22 of 34 analyst ratings per Benzinga, there is limited institutional appetite to step in front of an open-ended capex cycle. Third-quarter guidance was above expectations as well: Intel projects adjusted EPS of $0.38 on revenue of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion, against estimates of $0.27 on $15.1 billion. That sustained momentum picture, paired with the post-earnings selloff, echoes the pattern noted in the [July 21 session](https://www.startuphub.ai/ai-news/ai-stocks-daily/2026/ai-stocks-2026-07-21), when Intel and AMD ran sharply ahead of results and then corrected on the announcement itself. Shares remain up 134% year-to-date. [INTC chart by TradingView](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/NASDAQ-INTC/?aff_id=158908) ## ARM slips 8% as investors reposition ahead of July 29 results Arm Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARM) fell 8.1% to $260.01, the largest single-day decline among all 25 names tracked in this series. No company-specific catalyst was reported; the move appears to reflect pre-earnings repositioning ahead of ARM's fiscal first-quarter results, due July 29. Analysts surveyed by stockanalysis.com project consensus EPS of $0.41 on revenue of $1.27 billion, with the stock pricing in demanding AI-growth expectations after a 126.6% year-to-date advance. Analyst views on valuation are diverging sharply. Wells Fargo lowered its price target to $350 from $410, citing the stock's rich multiple relative to near-term earnings visibility. Susquehanna, by contrast, raised its target to $320 from $300, pointing to agentic AI tailwinds and ARM's expanding role in server CPU architecture. A broader fair-value estimate from GuruFocus sits at $416.94, revised upward from $345.25 following fresh assumptions for adjusted revenue growth, profit margins, and future price-to-earnings multiples in the context of AI infrastructure adoption. With the print less than a week away, Thursday's selloff reads primarily as valuation caution rather than fundamental concern. ARM's intraday range of $30.56 (from $258.43 to $288.99) was the widest in the AI-stock universe on the day, reflecting elevated options-market implied volatility heading into the earnings announcement. [ARM chart by TradingView](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/NASDAQ-ARM/?aff_id=158908) ## Salesforce rebounds 4% despite fresh analyst downgrades Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM) added 4.3% to $163.66, cutting against the grain of two high-profile analyst actions on the day. Morgan Stanley downgraded CRM to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut its price target to $185 from $287, citing enterprise software spending cycle concerns. KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader separately downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy, per Benzinga. Despite those headwinds, shares moved higher, suggesting short-covering and pre-earnings positioning ahead of the company's September 2 results. Fundamentally, Salesforce's fiscal 2026 revenue reached $41.53 billion, a 9.6% increase over the prior year. The 53-analyst consensus carries a Buy rating with an average 12-month price target of $241.72, per stockanalysis.com, implying more than 47% upside from Thursday's close. The resilience in CRM and NOW mirrors the broader theme flagged in the [July 22 session](https://www.startuphub.ai/ai-news/ai-stocks-daily/2026/ai-stocks-2026-07-22), where enterprise software names began showing signs of rotation ahead of this earnings wave, even as hardware names dominated headlines. [CRM chart by TradingView](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/NASDAQ-CRM/?aff_id=158908) ## Chip equipment stocks extend their month-long rout Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) and Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) each fell more than 4%, with AMAT closing at $536.25 (-4.7%) and LRCX at $305.21 (-4.6%). Both names have lost 20-24% over the past month as investors weigh whether AI infrastructure spending is peaking or redistributing away from wafer-processing equipment. SOXX's 4.4% single-day loss brings its one-month decline to 15.7%. The fundamental backdrop remains constructive, even if price action suggests otherwise. Bernstein assigned a Buy on AMAT on July 13 and Stifel raised its target to $650 from $530 on July 9. Applied Materials is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter results on August 13; S&P Global consensus projects a 35.5% year-over-year increase in adjusted EPS. For Lam Research, Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $404 from $331 on July 6; TD Cowen and Evercore ISI sit at $400 and $355, respectively. The investment thesis across both names rests on HBM memory scaling and gate-all-around node transitions requiring more deposition and etch steps, sustaining equipment demand well into 2027. Thursday's session tested that conviction at depth. [AMAT chart by TradingView](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/NASDAQ-AMAT/?aff_id=158908) ## Notable but quieter Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) gave back 3.3% to $521.95, consolidating after a 133.6% year-to-date gain. Goldman Sachs raised its AMD target to $640 and Wells Fargo to $615 earlier this month, both citing EPYC server CPU share gains. AMD reports Q2 results on August 4; Wall Street expects revenue of $10.25 billion, up 38% year-over-year, driven by a data center segment that grew 57% in the prior quarter. Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) fell 4.2% to $114.99, deepening a year-to-date loss of 41.2%. CLSA initiated coverage at Hold with a $145 target on July 20; Mizuho holds a Buy at $320. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) edged up 0.7% to $319.74, a modest recovery after Wednesday's post-earnings pressure. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) shed a further 2.1% to $313.03, extending the sell-off triggered by its Q2 results earlier in the week. ## What to watch next week Arm Holdings reports fiscal Q1 results on July 29, the most closely watched near-term catalyst for the semiconductor complex given the stock's steep year-to-date run and Thursday's sharp pre-earnings pullback. Advanced Micro Devices follows on August 4 and Applied Materials on August 13. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) are also expected to report within the next two weeks, and both carry outsized weight as AI-infrastructure bellwethers whose capex guidance will set the tone for the sector into Q3. On the macro front, investors will be monitoring Federal Reserve commentary after crude oil dipped below $100 per barrel on Friday morning, per Bloomberg, a move that affects inflation expectations and the rate outlook for technology-sector multiples. Not investment advice. --- Original analysis from [startuphub.ai](https://www.startuphub.ai), the #1 AI startup directory.