Don't Sweat the Market Swoon: These 2 Stocks Are Soaring After Hours Tuesday

The stock market went back into downward-moving mode on Tuesday, giving up gains from Monday and continuing the trend from late last week. Worries that the Federal Reserve might take away accommodative monetary policy despite the rise of the omicron COVID-19 variant had market participants shying away from stocks. Losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.56%), S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.88%), and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -2.05%) were in the neighborhood of 1.5% to 2%.

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

Yet after hours on Tuesday, investors found a silver lining in a couple of stocks. Positive earnings reports from Ambarella (AMBA -3.42%) and Box (BOX 0.76%) showed that even some high-growth tech stocks  can still hold their own in a tough market. Below, we'll look at what the two companies said in their reports and what it could mean for investors.

Ambarella's looking anything but chippy

Shares of Ambarella jumped more than 13% after hours Tuesday, adding to gains that have seen the stock more than double just since August. The semiconductor chipmaker has enjoyed favorable conditions in its industry, and investors have high hopes that the good times could continue.

Ambarella's third-quarter report included some strong figures. Revenue jumped 64% from last year's period. That helped boost adjusted net income to more than six times what it was in the same quarter a year ago. The company saw gross margin levels improve, helping to contribute to greater profitability.

Image source: Getty Images.

Ambarella also offered favorable guidance for the fourth quarter. The company believes it will see revenue at a level consistent with third-quarter performance. Consistent operating expenses and margin could suggest similar levels of profitability as well.

Overall, Ambarella has been pleased since it has made its transition to focus on the combination of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, dubbed AIoT for short. Its recent acquisition of Oculii, a provider of imaging radar algorithms, should help the company keep moving in that direction. And in the long run, that should make Ambarella a key player in the technological transformation driving many high-growth areas right now.

Thinking outside the Box

Meanwhile, shares of Box were higher by more than 9% in the after-hours session Tuesday. Investors were also pleased to see the content cloud specialist deliver solid third-quarter results.

Box's numbers might not look all that strong compared to other players in the tech sector, but investors were pleased to see its longer-term strategy play out well. Revenue moved higher by 14% year over year to $224 million, accelerating for the third quarter in a row. Remaining performance obligations jumped 25% to $948 million, and adjusted earnings of $0.22 per share were 10% above where they were in the year-earlier period.

Co-founders Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith expressed their optimism at the latest numbers. Levie pointed to promising new rollouts of products to fight against ransomware and other cybersecurity threats, while Smith noted that Box's net retention rate jumped to 109% and that the company was comfortable boosting its fiscal year 2022 projections for revenue and adjusted earnings per share.

Box has seen mixed performance at times this year, but investors seem to be gaining some comfort from the company's progress in executing its longer-term vision. If it can keep up its positive momentum from here, then Box might not be too far away from finally starting to enjoy explosive growth.