The stock of Lumen Technologies(NYSE: LUMN) was surging again in Thursday's trading. The telecom specialist's share price ended the daily session up 5.4%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. But the stock had been up as much as 33.3% early in today's trading.
Lumen has been on a bullish tear lately thanks to new deals and partnerships. Despite volatility today, the company was able to keep its recent streak of gains alive.
Shares rallied again following news that the company had entered a purchasing agreement with Corning for next-generation fiber optic cable, but they lost ground after macroeconomic concerns gripped the stock market.
Lumen's AI and data center strategy is picking up speed
Lumen published a press release this morning announcing that it had signed a deal with Corning that will see the latter company supply high-performance optical cable. The deal will allow Lumen to more than double its miles of fiber coverage in U.S. intercity markets. The agreement between the two companies has allowed it to secure 10% of Corning's global fiber production capacity over the next couple of years.
The Corning announcement comes on the heels of Lumen's announcement that it had entered a partnership with Microsoft to advance artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to support rising demand at data centers. Investors who have waited patiently for signs that Lumen's turnaround strategy is making progress have been getting some great news lately. Even after today's initially explosive gains moderated, the stock is still up 201% over the last month.
But stock market volatility limited Lumen's gains today
Thanks to strong second-quarter results and guidance from Meta Platforms, the stock market initially looked poised for a day of gains today. While yesterday's Federal Reserve meeting signaled that the central bank is on track to cut interest rates in September, some analysts and economists are now voicing concerns that the likely rate reduction will be too little, too late.
While recent U.S. economic data has generally been encouraging, a recent uptick in jobless claims has sparked concerns that a recession could still be on the near-term horizon. If so, that could both delay elements of Lumen's growth strategy and cause investors to become more cautious about valuation upside hinging on its turnaround prospects.
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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends Corning and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
