6 stocks to watch on Thursday: Netflix, Mastercard, AbbVie, McDonald's and more
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U.S. stock index futures on Thursday pointed to a higher open, with the previous day's Federal Reserve monetary policy decision and press conference from chair Jerome Powell largely being seen as a non-event. Quarterly earnings continued to dominate the spotlight, with Facebook-owner Meta's (META) results being cheered by investors. Market participants also parsed U.S. GDP data. Here are some stocks to watch on Thursday: 

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) stock was in focus ahead of the opening bell. The streaming giant has reportedly reworked its advertising deal with Microsoft (MSFT), just over a year after it signed the original pact in an effort to boost growth. According to The Wall Street Journal, NFLX is looking to reduce the revenue guarantee which was initially offered.
A day after larger rival Visa (V) topped quarterly expectations, Mastercard (MA) on Thursday also reported Q2 results that beat on both top and bottom line. The card issuer's payment network net revenue increased 13%, or 14% on a currency-neutral basis. Primary drivers of the increase were a 12% growth in gross dollar volume to $2.3T and cross-border volume growth of 24% on a local currency basis.
Shares of AbbVie (ABBV) advanced more than 2% in pre-market trading, after the maker of blockbuster arthritis therapy Humira posted Q2 adjusted earnings per share that exceeded consensus by 10 cents and a healthy revenue beat. ABBV stock has lost ~13% this year and has sharply underperformed its peers, amid the U.S. market entry of Humira biosimilar. The blockbuster therapy brought in revenues of more than $4B in Q2.
Another pharmaceutical major saw an earnings related move, with shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) slipping more than 3% ahead of the opening bell. BMY announced lower than expected financials for Q2 and provided full year guidance that came in below consensus, citing competition from cheaper generics. The company's quarterly revenue fell about 6% Y/Y, mainly due to demand for its multiple myeloma therapy, Revlimid, being affected by generic competition.
McDonald's (MCD) stock garnered some attention, after the fast food giant and Dow 30 component topped Q2 comparable sales estimates in all regions. Its global comparable jumped 11.7% versus an expected figure of +9.4%. Meanwhile, U.S. comparable sales gained 10.3% versus a consensus of +9.1%. Strategic menu price increases and positive guest counts helped the growth. MCD expects about 1.5K net restaurants for the year and guided for a full year operating margin of around 45%.
Cruise line operator stocks got a boost in pre-market trading, on the back of Royal Caribbean's (RCL) strong Q2 results. RCL shares jumped ~10%, after the company said demand for cruises was exceptionally strong and noted that it had seen another step change in booking volumes and pricing. It posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.82 which came in ahead of estimates by 24 cents. Moreover, revenue of $3.52B soared more than 60% Y/Y and beat expectations by $110M.

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