Tech Five: Salesforce shares down ahead of earnings

Salesforce, a cloud computing company that posted a 23% year-over-year rise in fiscal first-quarter sales, is expected to report its second quarter earnings after the bell.

Let's take a look at the tech stocks to watch Thursday:

Salesforce (CRM): The cloud computing company is expected to post fiscal second-quarter earnings of 18 cents a share, according to MarketWatch. Company shares closed at $72.04 Wednesday, but were trading down more than 2% Thursday morning at about $70.

Twitter (TWTR): Twitter announced plans earlier this week to accelerate its push for content partnerships in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East — but this move still didn't help its lagging stock. Twitter has experienced volatile stock performance since its disappointment earnings report last month. Company shares were down more than 1% Thursday morning.

Tesla (TSLA): Tesla shares were down Thursday morning after experiencing a brief jump earlier this week. Morgan Stanley raised the company's price target Monday, leading the stock to climb nearly 4%. However, company shares were down nearly 1% during morning trading.

Apple (AAPL): Is Apple Music a hit or a miss? A recent study by MusicWatch indicated it was a miss, saying that nearly half of those who initially tried the service have opted out. But Apple disputed the number and said only 21% of users aren't using the service since it went live June 30. Company shares, which have been volatile for the past few weeks, were down nearly 1% Thursday morning.

Comcast (CMCSA): Comcast's media subsidiary NBCUniversal announced plans to make a $200 million equity investment in BuzzFeed earlier this week. This new deal comes about a week after NBCUniversal invested the same amount in Vox Media, which is the owner of several websites that are also popular among younger readers. After experiencing a brief jump Monday following the deal with BuzzFeed, company shares were back to red by nearly 2% Thursday morning.

Follow Paste BN reporter Trisha Thadani on Twitter: @TrishaThadani