Top Midday Stories: Strong Nvidia, Salesforce, CrowdStrike Earnings Help Drive Stock Indexes Higher

12:00 PM EDT, 08/27/2026 (MT Newswires) -- All three major US stock indexes were up in late-morning trading Thursday, after Nvidia (NVDA) released their highly anticipated earnings results on Wednesday after markets closed. In company news, Nvidia reported fiscal Q2 adjusted earnings late Wednesday of $2.22 per diluted share, up from $1.01 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $2.09. Fiscal Q2 revenue was $96.22 billion, up from $46.74 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $92.27 billion. For fiscal Q3, the company expects revenue of $108 billion, plus or minus 2%. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $104.86 billion. Separately, Nvidia has agreed to buy Hugging Fact, the open-source AI platform, for $12.9 billion, The Information reported late Wednesday. Lastly, Nvidia and Amazon's (AMZN) AWS plan to deploy 2 million additional Nvidia GPUs across AWSs global infrastructure in 2027-2028, the companies said. Nvidia shares were up 7.6% around midday. Salesforce (CRM) reported fiscal Q2 adjusted EPS late Wednesday of $5.90, up from $2.91 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $3.27. Fiscal Q2 revenue was $11.35 billion, up from $10.24 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $11.33 billion. For fiscal Q3, the company expects adjusted EPS of $3.42 to $3.44 on revenue of $11.42 billion to $11.50 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $3.37 and $11.42 billion, respectively. For fiscal 2027, Salesforce expects adjusted EPS of $16.67 to $16.71 on revenue of $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion, up from their prior forecast of adjusted EPS of $14.06 to $14.12 on revenue of $45.9 billion to $46.2 billion. Analysts expect $14.16 and $46.11 billion, respectively. Separately, Salesforce and Anthropic said they were expanding their partnership to pair Claude's intelligence and reasoning with Salesforce's enterprise platform under the name Claudeforce. Salesforce shares were up about 19%. CrowdStrike (CRWD) reported fiscal Q2 adjusted EPS late Wednesday of $0.31, up from $0.23 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $0.29. Fiscal Q2 revenue was $1.47 billion, up from $1.17 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $1.44 billion. For fiscal Q3, the company said it expects adjusted EPS of $0.31 on revenue of $1.523 billion to $1.529 billion. Analysts expect $0.31 and $1.51 billion, respectively. For fiscal 2027, CrowdStrike expects adjusted EPS of $1.25 to $1.26 on revenue of $5.99 billion to $6.01 billion. Analysts expect EPS of $1.23 on revenue of $5.94 billion. CrowdStrike shares were up 17.7%. Moderna (MRNA) plans to offer $2 billion worth of convertible senior notes due 2032 in a private placement, the company said Thursday. The company plans to grant initial purchasers a 13-day option to acquire up to $300 million worth of additional shares, Moderna said. Shares of Moderna were down 7.1%. Best Buy (BBY) reported fiscal Q2 adjusted EPS Thursday of $1.47, up from $1.28 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $1.39. Fiscal Q2 revenue was $9.78 billion, up from $9.44 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $9.59 billion. For fiscal 2027, the company expects adjusted EPS of $6.70 to $6.90, up from its prior outlook of $6.30 to $6.60. The retailer also expects full-year revenue of $42.30 billion to $42.80 billion, up from its prior guidance of $41.20 billion to $42.10 billion. Analysts expect EPS of $6.62 on revenue of $42.08 billion. The company also said it expects fiscal 2027 comparable sales growth of 1.9% to 3%, up from its prior guidance of a decline of 1% to growth of 1%. Best Buy shares were down 4.4%. Price: 225.41, Change: +15.75, Percent Change: +7.51