U.S. stocks finished mostly higher on Friday, leaving the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 poised to record weekly gains amid a patch of investor caution. Several individual equities dominated headlines this week, driven largely by an acquisition announcement and a cluster of quarterly earnings reports.
Masimo Corporation
Masimo (MASI) led the headlines for reasons unrelated to its quarterly figures. The company’s shares surged more than 34% on Tuesday after Danaher Corporation agreed to acquire Masimo for $180 per share in cash. The transaction values Masimo at an enterprise level of approximately $9.9 billion, factoring in assumed indebtedness and net of acquired cash.
RingCentral
RingCentral (RNG) posted a pronounced rally following its latest quarterly release. The stock jumped over 32% on Friday and finished the week roughly 36% higher after reporting fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.18, $0.04 above the analyst estimate of $1.14. Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $644 million versus the consensus estimate of $643.61 million.
“RNG delivered solid Q4 results,” Morgan Stanley analyst Siti Panigrahi said in a reaction note. Panigrahi added that RingCentral continues to roll out new products to drive growth while also adjusting its financial model to align with its current growth profile.
Global Payments
Global Payments (GPN) was another earnings-related outperformer, rallying more than 16% on Wednesday and climbing an additional roughly 2% on Friday to trade around $81.83 per share. For the fourth quarter, the payments processor reported earnings per share of $3.18, $0.02 above the analyst estimate of $3.16, while revenue of $2.32 billion matched consensus expectations.
Looking ahead, Global Payments projected adjusted earnings per share for 2026 in a range of $13.80 to $14.00, which the company said would represent 13% to 15% growth and would top the consensus estimate of $13.78.
Klarna
Not all earnings reactions were positive. Klarna shares plunged more than 26% on Thursday following its latest quarterly disclosure, and slid a further 5.3% on Friday. The buy-now-pay-later firm reported quarterly revenue of $1.08 billion versus a consensus estimate of $1.07 billion.
Compass Point analyst Dominick Gabriele characterized the fourth quarter as “a miss up and down the P&L.” Gabriele added that his team has become incrementally cautious on Klarna heading into 2026 and that the earnings call did not increase their near-term confidence. He noted that the 2026 outlook appeared underwhelming relative to expectations, with funding costs higher than anticipated and putting pressure on adjusted operating income margin. Despite the reservations, the analyst maintained a BUY rating based on an expectation that Klarna’s stock could recover in the second half of 2026.
Avis Budget Group
Avis Budget Group experienced a steep decline after reporting quarterly results. The company posted a fourth-quarter loss per share of $21.25 and revenue of $2.7 billion, below the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. The stock fell roughly 21.5% on Thursday; shares were trading well below the $100 mark at about $95.95. The company had already been a focus for short sellers and had seen significant declines since August 2025 prior to this latest report.
Grail
Biotech name Grail tumbled 49.7% on Friday despite reporting a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss. Investors concentrated on the outcome of Grail’s flagship NHS-Galleri trial, which did not meet its primary clinical endpoint of a statistically significant reduction in combined Stage III and IV cancer diagnoses.
TD Cowen analyst Dan Brennan described the study failure as a “major setback.” He wrote that his prior work suggested the trial outcome would be negative for key catalysts such as FDA and Medicare decisions, while noting management remained upbeat about favorable trial signals supporting Galleri’s utility and expressed confidence in FDA approval.
The week illustrated how single events - an agreed acquisition, small beats on key metrics, missed expectations and a failed clinical endpoint - can sharply re-rate equities across sectors including healthcare, software, payments, buy-now-pay-later, car rental and biotech. Market participants weighed each company’s headline against forward guidance, funding cost pressures and clinical development risk when deciding whether to buy or sell.
Below are concise takeaways for investors tracking headline-driven moves and earnings reactions across these industries.