Breakfast News: Autodesk Tops Forecasts
August 29, 2025
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With markets closed Monday for Labor Day, Breakfast News will be back in your inbox on Tuesday, 2 September.
1. Autodesk Soars Over 10% on Q2 Beat
Stock Advisor recommendation Autodesk (ADSK +0.08%) rocketed 11% higher in post-market trading thanks to reporting results showing an 8% increase in revenue from $1.625 billion last quarter.
- "We're excited about the road ahead ... because of the go-to-market, industry cloud and platform foundations we've built over the last decade": CEO Andrew Anagnost believes Autodesk can scale with AI rapidly and is ready for the design sector to further converge with AI.
- Revenue projections for full-year represent approximately 15% annual growth: Fool analyst Jason Moser said "at first glance things look pretty good. The company beat all guidance leadership set a quarter ago and raised full-year guidance across the board. Revenue of $1.763 billion grew 17% from a year ago."
2. Meta Races to Launch New Llama Model
Business Insider reports Meta (META 0.02%) is pushing to release its next-generation Llama AI model by the end of the year, the first major project for the Superintelligence Labs team.
- Llama 4.X aiming to fix bugs and revive the existing model: The current AI model has underwhelmed since its release in April, as it didn't keep up with competitors when it came to reasoning or following instructions.
- "We're also working on our next generation of models that will push the frontier in the next year or so": CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented on one bigger-picture focus for the new team, which could focus more on personal superintelligence, providing humans with advanced AI assistants.
3. Fed's Waller Backs Rate Cut With More to Come
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he would support an interest rate cut at the September central bank meeting and anticipates additional cuts over the next six months.
- "With underlying inflation close to 2% ... proper risk management means the FOMC should be cutting the policy rate now": Waller also cited longer-term inflation expectations as being firmly anchored – and chances of further weakening in the labor market increasing – as reasons to act now.
- Market pricing suggests agreement with Waller's comments: According to the CME FedWatch tool, the probability of a 0.25% rate reduction next month stands at 85.1%, with just over two cuts priced through to the end of the year.
4. Marvell Drops; Affirm and Ulta Rally on Beats
Marvell Technology (MRVL 0.17%) fell over 14% in pre-market trading due to releasing results with a weak data center forecast, despite quarterly revenue jumping 58% versus the same period last year.
- 95% of transactions in the quarter were from repeat borrowers: Affirm (AFRM +0.15%) is up almost 16% ahead of the market opening on a strong earnings beat showing increasing card adoption and merchant AI uptake, with high customer retention.
- 2.9% increase in the average customer spending ticket size: SA rec Ulta Beauty (ULTA 0.04%) rose over 4% following market close, thanks to reporting a 9.3% quarterly revenue increase, highlighting robust consumer engagement.
5. Friday's Key Events: Alibaba Earnings and Markets Await Inflation Data
Due 8.30am ET, the July reading for the Fed's preferred inflation gauge – core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) – is expected to hit 2.9%, marking the highest level since February.
- "Anything short of a major upside surprise is unlikely to derail expectations for a September cut": Iped Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote, notes attention shifting more toward softening labor market data, but says there's no guarantee inflation can be contained.
- "AI-related product revenue is now a significant portion of revenues from external customers": Alibaba (BABA +0.10%) released results ahead of the market opening, with revenue and earnings per share missing expectations but a clear focus on investing in AI products going forward.
6. Your Take
Well, well, well. The last time we published our Stock Advisor Rankings, the S&P 500 closed at a record high. And with our most recent list of monthly rankings the team thinks members should look to first when investing new money published yesterday, it's happened again!
What's the likelihood the S&P 500 will hit a fresh all-time high at the end of next month as well? Debate with friends and family, or become a member to hear what your fellow Fools are saying.