Ever refreshed your portfolio at 8 PM and suddenly felt your heart skip a beat? Yeah, me too. There’s something almost addictive about after-hours trading—the moment when the regular crowd has gone home and the real drama begins. On December 4, 2025, the bell might have rung hours ago, but the action was just heating up.
Tonight delivered the kind of mixed bag that keeps traders glued to their screens: beauty stocks flying, enterprise tech stumbling, fintech raising eyebrows with a monster offering, and a couple of under-the-radar names absolutely stealing the show. Let’s unpack what actually happened and, more importantly, what it might mean for tomorrow.
The After-Hours Shakeup You Need to Know About
Here’s the quick TL;DR before we dive deeper: Ulta Beauty reminded everyone why it’s still the queen of beauty retail, Hewlett Packard Enterprise tripped on revenue (classic HPE move, honestly), SoFi decided to flood the market with new shares, and a few smaller names like Rubrik and ServiceTitan turned in performances that deserve way more attention than they’ll probably get.
Ulta Beauty Just Made Investors Smile
Let’s start with the happiest story of the night. Ulta Beauty didn’t just beat third-quarter expectations—they crushed them and then casually raised full-year guidance like it was no big deal. Shares popped nearly 6% in after-hours trading, and honestly? I’m not surprised.
The new revenue outlook now sits at $12.3 billion—up from a previous range of $12.0-$12.1 billion and comfortably above what most analysts were modeling. Even better, same-store sales growth is now expected between 4.4% and 4.7%, almost double the earlier 2.5%-3.5% range. In a world where retailers are constantly whining about cautious consumers, Ulta is out here proving that lipstick and skincare remain wonderfully recession-resistant.
When people feel uncertain about the economy, they still buy that $30 mascara. It’s the smallest luxury that feels like a big win.
Personal take? I’ve always believed beauty is one of the most predictable growth categories out there. Ulta’s ability to blend prestige brands with affordable options under one roof continues to be a masterclass in retail execution.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Another Revenue Miss
On the flip side, we have Hewlett Packard Enterprise delivering what feels like its quarterly tradition: beating on earnings but missing revenue expectations. The stock dropped roughly 8% after hours, and you could almost hear the collective sigh from long-term shareholders.
Reported revenue came in at $9.68 billion versus the $9.94 billion consensus. That’s not a catastrophic miss, but in this market, any whiff of weakness in enterprise spending gets punished fast. The fact that earnings actually beat estimates barely softened the blow—classic case of the top line mattering more than the bottom line right now.
Look, HPE operates in a tough neighborhood. Cloud giants are building their own infrastructure, competition in edge computing and AI servers is brutal, and enterprises remain cautious about big capex commitments. I’m not saying the stock is dead money forever, but the path to consistent growth still looks bumpy.
SoFi Technologies and the $1.5 Billion Surprise
Now, let’s talk about the move that had everyone double-taking. SoFi Technologies announced an underwritten public offering of $1.5 billion in common stock. Shares promptly fell more than 5% after hours, which shouldn’t shock anyone—dilution never feels good.
Here’s my question though: is this actually bearish, or just short-term noise? SoFi has been one of the few fintech names consistently taking share in lending, banking, and investing. Raising capital now—while rates are still relatively elevated—could be a smart offensive move to fund growth before the inevitable refinance boom hits.
- They’re still profitable on an adjusted basis
- Member and product growth remain ridiculously strong
- Management has executed well on diversification
Still, $1.5 billion is a lot of new shares. Near-term pressure feels almost guaranteed. Longer term? I wouldn’t be shocked if this ends up looking like smart capital allocation in 12-18 months.
Rubrik: The Under-the-Radar Rocket
If you blinked, you missed one of the best performances of the night. Cloud data management company Rubrik reported adjusted earnings of 10 cents per share on $350 million in revenue—blowing past expectations for a 17-cent loss on $320 million. Shares exploded more than 15% after hours.
Cybersecurity and data protection remain mission-critical spend, even in tough environments. Rubrik’s subscription model is sticky, the growth trajectory looks excellent, and the market clearly rewarded the beat-and-raise quarter. This is the kind of name that could stay hot if enterprise budgets loosen even slightly next year.
DocuSign: Good Results, Meh Reaction
DocuSign reported adjusted earnings of $1.01 per share on $818.4 million in revenue—nicely ahead of expectations—and raised full-year sales guidance. Yet shares still dipped nearly 3% after hours. Sometimes the market just wants perfection.
Growth is slowing from pandemic highs (obviously), but the core business remains healthy and cash flow is strong. At some point, this could screen as one of those “boring but cheap” software names that patient investors love.
ServiceTitan Joins the Party
Last but not least, software provider ServiceTitan added about 5% after beating on revenue and operating income while guiding above consensus for Q4. Not earth-shattering, but another sign that certain vertical software categories continue to hold up well.
What Should You Actually Do Tomorrow?
Here’s my completely subjective ranking of these moves from most interesting to least:
- Rubrik – Monster beat, growing market, explosive move
- Ulta Beauty – Proof that consumer discretionary isn’t dead
- SoFi – Dilution pain now, potential gain later
- HPE – Same old story, wait for a better entry
- DocuSign – Fine, but not exciting
At the end of the day, after-hours reactions are emotional. Some of tonight’s winners will fade by noon tomorrow, and some of the losers might bounce hard on dip-buying. The beauty of markets is that they’re never as clear-cut as they seem at 7:30 PM.
Either way, nights like this are why I still check my phone after dinner. The market never really sleeps—and neither do we.
