Meta, CoreWeave, Cava, TUI, Persimmon and Nordic Semiconductor

Facebook-parent Meta (META) rose more than 3% on Tuesday to close at a fresh high of $790 per share as the company doubles down on artificial intelligence (AI) efforts.

Meta shares jumped following the release of its second quarter results at the end of July, as the company beat expectations.

In the results, the company said it now expected capital expenditures for 2025 to be between $66bn (£48.7bn) to $72bn, raising the lowered end of its previously guided range of $64bn to $72bn. Meta said it expected another year of similarly significant capex dollar growth in 2026, as it continues “aggressively pursuing opportunities to bring additional capacity online to meet the needs of our artificial intelligence efforts and business operations.”

In addition, head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said on Tuesday that its Threads platform had recently reached more than 400 million monthly active users.

Shares in AI data centre operator CoreWeave (CRWV) slid more than 10% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, after the Nvidia-backed (NVDA) company posted a bigger-than-expected loss in the second quarter.

CoreWeave posted a net loss of $290.5m for the second quarter, which was more than the average estimate $190.6m expected by analysts, according to LSEG-compiled data reported by Reuters.

In addition, operating expenses of $1.19bn also jumped from $395.3m a year ago.

Second quarter revenue came in at $1.21bn, topping estimates of $1.08bn.

Michael Intrator, CEO of CoreWeave, said: “We are scaling rapidly as we look to meet the unprecedented demand for AI. Our purpose-built AI cloud platform continues to set new benchmarks for performance and scalability including becoming the first company to offer the complete Blackwell GPU portfolio at scale, making CoreWeave the platform of choice for the world’s most advanced AI workloads and AI pioneers.”

Shares in Cava (CAVA) dropped nearly 23% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, after the restaurant chain issued its first annual sales growth target cut since listing in New York two years ago.

In its second quarter results, released on Tuesday, Cava said it now expected to deliver same restaurant sales growth of 4% to 6% in 2025, compared to a previously guided range of 6% to 8%.

However, the company maintained it guidance for adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $152m to $159m.

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For the second quarter, Cava delivered revenue of $278.2m, which was up 20.3% on the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $42.1m, up from $34.3m for the prior year quarter.

Brett Schulman, CEO of Cava, said: “We recently opened our 400th restaurant, marking a meaningful milestone on our path to 1,000 restaurants by 2032, reinforcing the proven portability and underlying strength fuelling our continued growth.”

Holiday group TUI (TUI1.DE) reported better-than-expected third quarter results on Wednesday.

Group revenue for the third quarter came in at €6.2bn (£5.35bn), which was up 7% from a year ago. Underlying EBIT of €321m was up 38% compared to the previous year.

On Tuesday, TUI announced that it was raising its 2025 EBIT growth guidance to a range of 9% to 11%, versus previous expectations of 7% to 10%.

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Shares popped after the company lifted its guidance on Tuesday but hovered just below the flatline on Wednesday morning.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: “It looks like the summer performance so far has held up much better than anticipated. Last quarter Tui warned about a potential drop in summer bookings amid the macro uncertainty and European heatwaves. However this week, that sense of nervousness has reversed course with a guidance uplift for the full-year and a top and bottom line beat.”

Housebuilder Persimmon (PSN.L) was the second biggest faller on the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) on Wednesday morning, with shares falling 3%, on the back of its half-year results.

Profit before tax of £146.7m was little changed from the same period last year, while underlying pre-tax profit rose 11% £164.9m and group revenue increased 14% to £1.5bn.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said: “Results from Persimmon suggest the UK housebuilding sector is not a total lemon, and at their current low ebb, these stocks might pique the interest of contrarian, value investors.

“Completions were up at Persimmon, likewise average selling prices, which were 8% up on last year. Not too bad in what is perceived to be a stagnant housing market. All of that has fed through into an 11% rise in underlying operating pre-tax profit.”

“However under the bonnet things don’t look quite so rosy, thanks to some rather chunky exceptional items which mean earnings per share is actually down by 10%,” he added. “Seven housebuilders have agreed to pay £100m into affordable housing programmes following a CMA investigation into price collusion, and Persimmon’s contribution adds up to a £15.2m hit to its income statement.”

Shares in Nordic Semiconductor (NOD.OL) surged nearly 16% on Wednesday morning, hitting a two-year high after the company's second quarter results beat expectations.

The Norweigan chipmaker posted revenue of $164m for the quarter, up from $128m a year ago and ahead of average forecasts of $158.9m, according to LSEG data reported by Reuters. Second quarter EBITDA of $21m also topped estimates of $15.8m.

The company's revenue guidance for the third quarter of $165m to $185m also came in ahead of market expectations.

In its quarterly report, the company said: “The ongoing trade tensions are not considered to have had any major effect on revenue, neither positive nor negative, although the company recognises that this remains a risk factor going forward.

“Nordic navigates this environment by continuing its efforts to strengthen supply chain resilience and maintaining close customer collaborations to support customer needs.”

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