4 Stocks With Strong Earnings To Ride Out Market Volatility

Volatility returned to the markets in a significant way last week, as major indices posted their most substantial losses since April, following a mixed batch of earnings and a disappointing jobs report that included three months of downward revisions.

The fireworks continued into Friday when President Trump abruptly fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

With new tariffs set to take effect this month and the job market looking increasingly shaky, investors may be cashing out some of the winners from the last few months and seeking safer havens for the second half of 2025. 

That doesn’t always mean dividend stocks or defensive sectors. You can also ride out volatility by focusing on companies with strong earnings that are raising guidance or adding to their backlogs. 

Earnings season in Q2 produced a variety of winners and losers. The following four companies exceeded expectations with exceptionally strong earnings.

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Meta Platforms

Sometimes you can sit back and let the numbers speak for themselves. Meta Platforms META continues to be the undisputed king of online advertising, and its Q2 revenue topped $47 billion, a number even NVIDIA couldn't match this quarter. The figure marked revenue growth of more than 21% year-over-year (YoY), and the $7.14 EPS figure obliterated the expected $5.75. A year ago, the company reported $5.15 EPS in Q2 and $39 billion in revenue, and the growth is showing no signs of stopping. META is committing even more capital expenditures to its AI projects, which is good news not just for the AI market but also for the other companies on this list that support these projects and data centers.

META shot to new all-time highs following the blowout earnings release, though the makings of the rally have been underway for several months now. After triggering an Oversold signal on the Relative Strength Index (RSI) in April, the stock has gained more than 30% in the last three months. A Golden Cross in June further boosted the stock, and a subsequent pullback to the 50-day moving average preceded the earnings release. The stock has sold off in the days following the report, and the RSI is back under 70, which could provide a spot for new buyers to get their feet wet.

Comfort Systems USA

Comfort Systems USA FIX is a large-cap HVAC manufacturer and also one of the biggest winners in an economy with skyrocketing data center demand. What does an HVAC company have to do with artificial intelligence? All those data centers operating 24/7 absorb a tremendous amount of energy, but also produce immense amounts of heat. For data centers to operate efficiently, they require custom-designed air conditioning (A/C) systems to keep their servers cool.

Comfort Systems USA reported a top and bottom line beat during its Q2 earnings release on July 24, with revenue soaring to $2.17 billion, a 20% YOY gain. The company also reported a record backlog of over $8 billion, indicating that revenue growth is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. As AI capital expenditure (capex) grows, so will the need for HVAC solutions in data centers, and FIX has become a "picks and shovels" AI play. It also hits a trifecta of Benzinga Edge scores: 95.75 in Momentum, 92.06 for Value, and 87.59 for Growth.

Microsoft

If META had the most eye-popping earnings report in Q2, Microsoft MSFT wasn't far behind as the AI hyperscaler wars enter their most intense phase yet. The company reported more than $76 billion in quarterly revenue on its July 30 release, a YOY acceleration of 18%. The EPS estimate of $3.35 was also beaten, coming in at $3.65. In 2024, Microsoft's Q2 EPS figure was $2.95. In the coming year, MSFT expects double-digit growth in both revenue and operating income, driven by its AI division and Copilot, which now boasts over 100 million monthly active users.

Analysts were out in force boosting targets following the Q2 releases, including a new Street-high $675 price target from Jefferies (upside of over 28%). The chart also shows a promising long-term trend, with some post-earnings profit-taking, offering a new entry point. The stock gained nearly 12% in the early session following the Wednesday night release, but gave back almost all the gains in the following two days as economic and political news strained the market. In our view, this could be a buying opportunity, as MSFT’s capex spending is unlikely to slow down, and the 50-day and 200-day moving averages confirm the stock's long-term uptrend.

Advanced Micro Devices 

AMD AMD reports after the market closes on August 5, but markets are forward-looking and there's good reason to believe AMD will build on its Q1 earnings release, which saw data center revenue grow more than 50% YOY. AMD shares are beating NVDA so far in 2025, despite NVDA continuing to mesmerize the market with its revenue and earnings figures. AMD shares are up 42% year-to-date (YTD), compared to 30% for NVDA. AMD has a broader product line and aims to capture a portion of NVDA's 80% data center market share moving forward. The stock price is hinting that the market thinks this goal is possible.

AMD shares broke above the 50-day moving average in June; the stock has continued its torrid pace ever since. By July, it had put more distance between itself and NVDA, following a Golden Cross formation and confirmation of the uptrend by the MACD. Analysts at Susquehanna, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and UBS Group all boosted their price targets ahead of the company's Tuesday report for Q2, hinting that another beat is in the cards for NVIDIA's main competitor.

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