By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trading on Thursday, 2nd February.

• Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) stock surged 20% after the social media giant added $40 billion to its buyback program and cut its forecast for operating costs by around 7% this year, signaling a sharper focus on shareholder concerns.
• Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) stock rose 5.2%, supported by Meta's reassuring forecast for the strength of ad sales in the coming year. The Google owner reports its own earnings after the close on Thursday.
• Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock also rose 4.2%, with all three of the tech giants supported by the Federal Reserve's guidance on interest rates on Wednesday.
• Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) stock fell 2.1% despite the pharma giant raising its full-year earnings forecast and beating expectations for profit in the fourth quarter. Revenue fell short due to a drop in sales of its COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment.
• Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) stock fell 3.1% after it disappointed with its quarterly update: profit fell 29% and revenue also missed estimates due to labor and supply chain problems.
• Shell (NYSE: SHEL) ADRs rose 1.9% after the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas giant more than doubled its profit in the fourth quarter to an all-time record.
• Estée Lauder (NYSE: EL) stock fell 2.4% after the cosmetics group said profit would fall further than it expected this year, citing an uneven recovery from the pandemic in China.
• Hershey (NYSE: HSY) stock rose 2.1% after the candy maker’s fourth quarter topped expectations.