Shares of NICE Ltd (NASDAQ: NICE) plummeted 6% in pre-market trading on Thursday, despite the company reporting better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of 2025. The sharp decline comes amidst a mixed performance in the technology sector, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) down 0.5% in pre-market trading.

NICE reported quarterly earnings of $2.87 per share, surpassing the analyst consensus estimate of $2.85 by 0.7%. This represents an 11.24% increase from the same period last year. However, the company's quarterly sales of $700.19 million slightly missed the analyst consensus estimate of $701.39 million by 0.17%, despite showing a 6.20% year-over-year growth.

The significant stock drop appears to be a combination of factors, including the slight sales miss and potential profit-taking following the earnings report. Additionally, NICE raised its full-year 2025 adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $12.28 - $12.48, above the FactSet estimate of $12.19. However, this positive outlook seems to have been overshadowed by the broader tech sector pressure and possible market overreaction to the minor sales shortfall. Investors will be closely watching NICE's performance in the coming days to see if this sharp decline presents a buying opportunity or signals more prolonged weakness.