Stocks to Watch Friday: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), United Rentals Inc. (URI)

stocks to watchThe top stocks to watch today (Friday) include tech company Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), coffee giant Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX), and equipment rental company United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI).

While earnings reports are coming in today, the market will also be moving on new economic data releases. The GDP growth was announced at 8:30 a.m. and was 1.9% for Q4 2016. Consumer confidence will be reported at 10:00 a.m., and the rig count will be announced at 1:00 p.m.

Here are three top stocks to watch today...

Stocks to Watch: Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)

Microsoft stock is up almost 2% in pre-market trading after beating revenue and EPS estimates.

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The company announced revenue of $25.8 billion and EPS of $0.84. Earnings per share were more than 10% higher than the estimated $0.71. Microsoft has beaten EPS estimates in three of the last four quarters.

Its fastest-growing unit is Office 365, Microsoft's cloud-based suite of productivity software. The unit saw 10% growth over the previous year.

MSFT shares are currently trading at $64.27, a gain of 3.43% year to date (YTD).

Stocks to Watch: Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX)

Starbucks stock is down over 4% in pre-market trading after reducing its 2017 revenue forecast.

The company's earnings report was as expected. Revenue was $5.7 billion and EPS was $0.52 for the previous quarter.

Starbucks expected revenue growth of more than 10% for fiscal year 2017. The company lowered the forecast for 2017 to a target of 8% to 10% when earnings were announced.

SBUX stock is currently trading at $58.46 for a gain of 5.3% YTD.

Stocks to Watch: United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI)

United Rentals stock is up 11.2% after releasing its earnings report.

The company released its earnings report yesterday at 1 p.m. and beat analysts' expectations by more than 5%. URI announced EPS of $2.67, while analysts were expecting $2.24.

United Rentals is also acquiring NES Rentals Holdings Inc. The cash deal is worth $965 million and should close by the end of March. The announcement was made at the same time as the earnings report.

URI stock is currently trading at $127.06 for a 20.34% gain YTD.

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