These Stocks Moved the Most Today: Walmart, Palantir, First Solar, Nordson, Coty, HPE, and More

A scene from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Stocks fell Thursday as traders broke down Walmart’s earnings report, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack indicated a September rate cut isn’t guaranteed, and Wall Street looked ahead to the Fed’s annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

These stocks made notable moves:

Walmart reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of 68 cents a share, missing analysts’ estimates of 73 cents. Revenue of $177.4 billion topped estimates of $175.9 billion. Shares fell 4.5% even as Walmart raised its financial guidance and said the “impact of tariffs has been gradual enough that any behavioral adjustments by the customer have been somewhat muted.”

Palantir Technologies was up 0.1% after shares of the artificial-intelligence data company closed lower Wednesday for a sixth-straight session. The stock has declined almost 17% over that span, which equals its longest losing streak since April 2024, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Like Palantir, Nvidia has been swept up in a selloff of expensive technology stocks, particularly those tied to AI. Shares of the leading maker of AI chips also have been pressured, closing lower for two straight days and three of the past four trading sessions.

Over the prior two sessions, Nvidia had declined 3.6%, the stock’s worst two-day stretch since April 21, when it fell 7.25%. In trading Thursday, the stock was down 0.2%.

Chip maker Intel was down 0.2%. Shares dropped 7% on Wednesday, the stock’s worst session since July 25, when it fell 8.5%. The shares, however, coming into Thursday have gained 19% in August as the U.S. government considers taking a sizable stake in the company, and Japan’s SoftBank earlier this week announced a $2 billion investment in Intel.

Renewable energy stocks fell after President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. won’t approve solar or wind power projects. First Solar fell 7%, Sunrun declined 4.7%, and SolarEdge Technologies fell 5.8%. Shares of clean energy companies jumped last week after new rules for tax credits from the Treasury Department weren’t as bad as many investors had feared.

Nordson rose 3%. The manufacturing company posted better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings and raised fiscal-year guidance.

Coty tumbled 21% after the cosmetics company reported a fourth-quarter adjusted loss of 5 cents a share, while analysts expected a profit of 1 cent a share. Revenue in the period fell 8%. Coty said it anticipates “steady, sequential trend improvement” in like-for-like sales and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization through fiscal 2026, and that it will return to growth in the second half of the year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise rose 3.7% to $21.82 after analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised their price target to $28 from $22. The stock is at an attractive valuation and the recent acquisition of Juniper Networks adds to HPE’s 2026 and 2027 earnings potential, the analysts said.

Instacart declined 2.1% to $44.54. Shares of the grocery delivery company were downgraded by analysts at Wedbush to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $42, down from $55.

Earnings reports were expected after the closing bell Thursday from Intuit, Workday, Ross Stores, and Zoom Communications.

Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com