The Score: Home Depot, Nvidia, Tesla and More Stocks That Defined the Week — WSJ

By Francesca Fontana

The Score is a weekly review of the biggest stock moves and the news that drove them.

Home Depot

Home Depot delivered a better-than-expected quarter.

The home-improvement retailer beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly sales and profit, but offered cautious guidance as higher interest rates continue to pressure big-ticket purchases. The company also said it would increase its quarterly dividend to $2.30 a share.

Home Depot said demand was strong for appliances and building materials, but weaker for discretionary projects such as kitchen and bathroom remodels, for which consumers typically use financing.

Rival Lowe's also posted better-than-expected quarterly results during the week.

Home Depot shares rallied 2.8% Tuesday.

Tesla

Is Elon Musk more focused on DOGE than on Tesla?

That's the worry of some investors and analysts helping drive the electric-car maker's latest selloff.

New data published Tuesday showed that Tesla had a terrible January in Europe, as its sales fell 45% in the region compared with a year earlier. Possible factors behind the slide include Chief Executive Musk's political activism and focus on his role at the Department of Government Efficiency, rising EV competition from Volkswagen and other legacy brands, and a pullback after a sales push in December.

The news on Tuesday sent the company's market capitalization below $1 trillion for the first time since mid-November.

Tesla shares dropped 8.4% Tuesday.

Stellantis

The carmaker behind Jeep, Ram and other brands may still have some bumps in the road ahead.

Stellantis gave a cautious outlook for growth and profitability this year, but its guidance disappointed. The company also said revenue fell 17% and shipments were down 12% in 2024, mainly due to temporary gaps in its product lineup.

Later in the week, Stellantis and other European auto stocks fell in response to President Trump's latest tariff threats against the European Union.

Stellantis shares lost 5.3% Wednesday.

Anheuser-Busch InBev

Shares of the world's largest brewer bubbled higher on Wednesday.

AB InBev — whose brands include Budweiser, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra — said that higher U.S. prices helped boost its quarterly revenue and profit. Its organic revenue growth topped analysts' forecasts.

The company said it continued to win market share in the U.S. in the fourth quarter and recovered from a boycott that hammered them for more than a year. The boycott began in the spring of 2023, after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted an Instagram video about a personalized beer can the brand had sent her as a gift.

American depositary shares of AB InBev rallied 7.2% Wednesday.

Nvidia

Nvidia's blockbuster earnings weren't enough for Wall Street.

The chip maker's stock fell on Thursday, despite Wednesday's report that showed sharply rising sales and profit in its latest quarter. Nvidia brought in $11 billion of revenue from its new Blackwell artificial-intelligence chips.

The results showed spending on Nvidia's chips continues to soar despite jitters about the outlook for the AI boom. In January, the threat of competition from Chinese AI developer DeepSeek spooked Nvidia investors and rattled markets.

Analysts blamed the stock's fall on narrower profit margins and worry about Nvidia's sales in China.

Nvidia shares slid 8.5% Thursday.

HP

HP shares powered down after the computer maker's weak outlook and layoff announcements.

The company late Thursday posted higher revenue in its fiscal first quarter, but said the effects of tariffs would drag on its second-quarter results.

HP also said it would lay off up to 2,000 more employees as part of a continuing cost-cutting plan, bringing the total number of job cuts under the restructuring to as many as 9,000. First announced in November 2022, HP's "Future Now" plan initially called for workforce cuts of about 7,000 employees.

HP shares fell 6.8% Friday.

Our weekly markets news roundup is now part of the WSJ's What's News podcast. Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Check out What's News in Markets at wsj.com/podcasts or wherever you listen.

Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com.