Late Night Stock Market Recap and After-Hours Buzz

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Night.Owl masters market recaps, offering sharp analysis that uncovers hidden patterns and key moves. Stay ahead with Night.Owl’s expert insights.
 

•  05 Sep 2025
 

•   AEO  
   
  -2.71%
•   AVGO  
   
  +10.47%
•   CIEN  
   
  -0.52%
•   CRM  
   
  +2.38%
•   DOCU  
   
  +4.13%

$AEO American Eagle Outfitters just went absolutely ballistic, shooting up 26% after hours. Who would have thought that putting Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce in your ads could move the needle this much? But here we are. Their Q2 numbers came in hot with $1.28 billion in revenue, crushing what analysts were expecting. The Aerie brand is firing on all cylinders too, posting 3% comp growth while everyone else is struggling with the consumer slowdown. Management basically said "we're back" by reinstating their 2025 guidance and cranking up the buyback machine. CFRA didn't waste any time bumping their price target to $19, and honestly, at this rate, that might look conservative.

$AVGO beat expectations again - $15.95 billion in Q3 revenue, up 22% from last year but the market reaction was pretty muted considering how hot this stock has been running. The AI story keeps getting better though. Revenue from AI chips jumped 63% and get this. they've got some mystery $10 billion customer that nobody wants to talk about. My money's on one of the hyperscalers, but your guess is as good as mine. EPS hit $1.69, three cents ahead of estimates, and Q4 guidance came in strong. Sometimes when you're already the king of the hill, even great news doesn't move the needle much.

$CIEN The real fireworks came from Ciena, which just had one of those quarters that makes you wish you'd loaded up beforehand. This networking gear company absolutely crushed it - Q3 revenue jumped 29% to $1.22 billion while earnings per share nearly doubled to $0.67. They're riding this massive wave of data center buildouts as everyone races to get their AI infrastructure in place. What really caught my attention was their Q4 guidance, which came in way above what anyone was expecting. They're talking about 17% revenue growth next year, and both Stifel and Raymond James rushed to jack their price targets up to $120. When you see moves like that, you know something real is happening.

$CRM Salesforce had me scratching my head though. On paper, their Q2 beat looked solid - they topped both earnings and revenue estimates by decent margins. But the stock got hammered, dropping over 8% after hours. The culprit? Q3 guidance that left everyone wanting more. Marc Benioff went on CNBC trying to do damage control, calling the results "absolutely fantastic," but Wall Street wasn't buying it. The harsh reality is that investors want to see AI translate into real revenue growth, not just fancy demos and marketing buzzwords. Enterprise software is in this weird transition period where everyone's talking about AI transformation, but the actual dollars aren't flowing yet.

$DOCU DocuSign managed to buck the software selloff trend with a surprisingly strong print. Their Q2 revenue of $801 million grew 9% year-over-year and beat estimates by more than $20 million. What I liked most was the billings growth of 13% - that's a forward-looking metric that suggests their AI-powered tools are actually resonating with customers. When they guided Q3 above expectations, the stock took off in after-hours trading.

$SHOO beat Q2 earnings estimates by nine cents with their rebanner strategy paying dividends. Management raised their full-year outlook and accelerated plans to convert most of their Shoe Station locations by 2026. The back-to-school season has been solid for them, and you can see it in the margin expansion they're getting.

Looking ahead to Friday's session, it'll be interesting to see if these after-hours moves stick. The market's been pretty good at following through on earnings-driven momentum lately, especially when the fundamental story is as clear as what we're seeing with some of these names. With back-to-school season in full swing and holiday shopping around the corner, consumer discretionary names that can execute might have more room to run.

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