7 Stocks you need to know for Thursday

The Dow closed higher by 90.88. The Nasdaq Composite gained 29.11. And the S&P 500 ended the day up 16.23.

Here are 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Thursday.

Reporting quarterly earnings after the close on Wednesday was Oracle Corporation (ORCL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), which beat analyst estimates by three cents. The company also announced its first ever quarterly dividend of 5 cents a share.

Also reporting after the bell on Wednesday was Nike (NKE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), which smashed analyst estimates by twenty cents per share.

The Wall Street Journal reported that IBM (IBM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is looking into buying Sun Microsystems (JAVA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) as part of an $8 billion dollar deal that would have IBM picking up the company for between $10-11 per share.

A number of companies are reporting quarterly earnings Thursday morning before the market opens. Perhaps at the top of the list is FedEx Corporation (FDX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), which is expected to announce EPS of 0.46.

Also reporting Thursday morning is Ross Stores (ROST | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating). Analysts are expecting per share earnings of 76 cents.

An earnings per share loss of 59 cents is what analysts expect to hear from Palm Inc. (PALM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), which is scheduled to report earnings after the close on Thursday.