Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Workday, Estee Lauder, Zoom, Take-Two and more

Several after-hours movers reported solid upside, led by Workday (+11%) on stronger-than-expected results and a higher full-year margin outlook, Zoom (+7%) on an earnings/revenue beat plus a $1 billion buyback increase, and Ross Stores (+7%) on a better-than-expected quarter with raised comp and earnings guidance. Deckers beat estimates with EPS of $0.96 on $1.11 billion of revenue and boosted repurchases by $3.5 billion, while Perpetua Resources jumped nearly 14% after securing a $2.9 billion U.S. Export-Import Bank loan. Estee Lauder rose almost 12% after ending merger talks with Puig.

Analysis

This tape is less about isolated beats and more about management teams using the window to reset expectations upward while capital return acts as a second engine. The highest-quality setup is in software and branded consumer where modest operational upside plus buybacks can force systematic re-rating, especially after a year of multiple compression. Workday is the clearest beneficiary because improved margin optics plus leadership continuity can pull forward a multi-quarter rerating in enterprise software where investors have been paying for discipline, not just growth.

Retail and consumer names are signaling that demand is not collapsing, but the more interesting read is inventory and mix discipline: Ross and Deckers are being rewarded because the market had expected margin pressure to persist longer. If these signals hold, the next-order effect is weaker promotional intensity across apparel/footwear and less need for peers to chase volume, which can stabilize sector gross margins into the next quarter. Zoom’s buyback increase matters less for near-term growth and more as a floor under the stock while the market reassesses durability of cash generation.

Perpetua is the one name where the move is driven by capital structure rather than near-term operating improvement. The loan removes financing overhang and effectively de-risks project completion, but it also ties the equity to a multi-year execution path and policy support for strategic minerals. The contrarian risk across the group is that post-earnings gaps this large invite profit-taking unless the company can show sustained follow-through in the next print; the move is strongest when reinforced by upward revisions, weakest when it is purely a relief rally.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Go long WDAY on any post-gap consolidation over the next 1-3 sessions; upside remains open to a 10-15% rerating if margin guidance credibility holds, with downside contained if leadership transition noise fades.
• Fade weak hands in ZM by selling upside calls against long stock or initiating a short-dated put spread; the buyback supports the name, but the core business still needs multiple quarters to justify a durable re-rate.
• Pair long ROST / short a lower-quality discretionary retailer basket for the next 4-8 weeks; the thesis is that better inventory discipline and comp resilience will widen the valuation gap if promotions stay contained.
• Add to DECK selectively, but only on intraday pullbacks; the buyback and UGG strength support a higher floor, yet the move is already partially crowded and momentum can mean-revert quickly if wholesale orders normalize.
• Speculative long PPTA with a 6-12 month horizon; the financing removes the existential overhang, but position sizing should stay small because execution and policy risk remain the main sources of variance.