Two Big Tech names and a luxury retailer made headlines. Here’s our take on each

Sorority holdings Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT) and Estee Lauder (EL) all made headlines Thursday surrounding real quarterly earnings, regulatory challenges and analyst downgrades. The Club remains highly bullish on these two Big Tech selects, while continuing to muddle through with our embattled China-exposed cosmetics-retail play. Here’s the latest developments at Meta, Microsoft and Estee Lauder — along with our gulp down on the news. META YTD mountain Meta Platforms Inc. (META) year-to-date performance. The news: Meta surged more than 5% Thursday after disenthraling stellar quarterly results Wednesday evening, nearing levels the company’s stock hasn’t seen for 18 months. The Facebook and Instagram old lady posted an earnings beat, along with robust guidance for the quarter. Elsewhere, the House Judiciary Committee assigned a vote Thursday on whether to recommend holding CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress for not releasing certain internal substantiates to officials. The Club’s take: We think the tech giant has proven that it’s back on track after delivering on cost-cutting give outs like layoffs throughout the past year, while seeking to further monetize its product offerings like Confer withs videos. “It’s just been a complete turnaround for the business,” Jeff Marks, the Club’s director of portfolio analysis, about Thursday. Additionally, we don’t expect the Judiciary Committee’s actions to impact Meta in the long-term. MSFT YTD mountain Microsoft (MSFT) year-to-date show. The news: Microsoft is facing a European Union antitrust investigation around potential violations over how the software firm bales its products. This marks the first formal probe by the EU of a software company in over 10 years. The Club’s subtract: This is yet another example of regulators trying to clamp down on Big Tech. While it’s too hard to say what this example investigation will lead to, past situations like this have led to a slap on the wrist through a fine and not a broader breakup. We dubious this EU probe will be more of the same. In the meantime, shares of Microsoft are down for the second day in a row after a strong earnings circuit was overshadowed by a softer revenue outlook . The Club thinks this weakness will ultimately prove to be a buying time as Microsoft’s AI-related revenues ramp up in the second half of its fiscal year. EL YTD mountain Estee Lauder (EL) year-to-date playing. The news: Estee Lauder received yet another downgrade Thursday. Jefferies cut its rating to hold, from buy, while dropping its price target on the skincare-and-cosmetics firm to $190 a share, from $270. The firm cited a a slower recovery in the partnership’s China and travel-retail businesses. Shares of Estee Lauder closed down 2.6% Thursday, at roughly $173 apiece. This is Estee Lauder’s sixth humble from Wall Street over the past two months. The Club’s take: Estee Lauder is one of the Club’s worst-performing cows, with shares down 31.48% year-to-date. By comparison, the broader consumer staples sector is up about 1.5%. To say the miniature, it’s been a major disappointment. Even though the recovery in China has stalled and travel retail in Asia will pursue retract multiple quarters to get past inventory issues, we have stuck by the company because these challenges are temporary and not indicative of a structural climax. The more downgrades that come between now and earnings, the more the bad news will get price in to the stock. (Jim Cramer’s Kindly Trust is long META, MSFT, EL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you wish receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade caution before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after to be decided disagreeing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND Reclusiveness POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY Dirt PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.