U.S. stocks opened Friday’s session with mixed results as investors digested a flurry of earnings reports from major tech and consumer names, along with broader questions about the durability of artificial intelligence-led market gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered near flat in early trading, while the S&P 500 edged slightly higher, bolstered by a rally in consumer discretionary stocks. The Nasdaq Composite lagged, dragged by semiconductor and software names following a choppy earnings report from Intel.

Earnings on Center Stage

Deckers Brands (DECK) surged over 14% in premarket trading after the footwear company posted a 17% year-over-year revenue increase to $964.5 million in its fiscal first quarter, beating the $900.9 million consensus. The earnings beat was driven by standout performances in its HOKA and UGG segments, which grew 19.8% and 18.9%, respectively. International sales jumped 50%, offsetting softness in U.S. direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels.

CEO Stefano Caroti highlighted the firm’s resilience, telling analysts the quarter reflected the “strength of Deckers’ brand equity and international growth trajectory” despite tariff pressures and uneven domestic momentum.

In contrast, Intel (INTC) shares reversed early gains to test their $20 support level. The chipmaker reported Q2 revenue of $12.9 billion—above expectations—but a non-GAAP gross margin of just 29.7% and an adjusted EPS loss of $0.10 rattled investors. CEO Lip-Bu Tan's aggressive restructuring plan, including a 15% workforce reduction and halted fab expansions in Germany and Poland, underscored the company’s effort to streamline amid persistent margin pressure and foundry losses of $3.2 billion.

AI Leadership and Microsoft’s Next Act

Looking ahead, market participants are eyeing Microsoft’s (MSFT) earnings next week. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives reiterated an "OUTPERFORM" rating and a $600 price target, citing Microsoft's deepening integration of artificial intelligence across its enterprise stack. Ives dubbed the company "the Scottie Scheffler of software" and noted accelerating adoption of its AI capabilities across financial, government, and retail sectors.

“We strongly view this as Microsoft’s ‘shining moment,’” the Wedbush team wrote, forecasting that AI could add $25 billion in revenue by fiscal 2026 as more than 70% of Microsoft’s installed base integrates Copilot and other AI features.

Despite competition from Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, Wedbush sees Microsoft as “the clear front runner on the enterprise hyper scale AI front” and believes the market has yet to fully price in the long-term growth from AI monetization and cloud demand.

Market Breadth Remains Narrow

Meanwhile, concerns over market concentration persist. According to Apollo Chief Economist Dr. Torsten Slok, more than half of the S&P 500’s gains since January 2021 have come from just ten companies—including Microsoft, NVIDIA, Apple, and Alphabet. “Returns in the S&P 500 are not diversified but instead remain extremely concentrated in a small group of tech stocks,” Slok noted in a daily update.

As earnings season rolls forward, investors will continue weighing whether this narrow leadership can persist—or whether the broader market will begin to catch up.