NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks finished higher Thursday on speculation that a top al Qaeda official might soon be captured, but investors may be focusing more on earnings Friday following late-day results from Nike and Adobe Systems.

Nike said its third-quarter profit soared nearly 60 percent as a favorable currency exchange rate and strong demand pushed sales to roughly $3 billion.

Net profit for the quarter came in at $200 million, or 74 cents per share, compared to a profit of $125 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenues for the world's No. 1 athletic shoemaker jumped 21 percent to $2.9 billion from 2.4 billion during the same period last year.

Analysts had expected Nike, on average, to earn 73 cents a share on sales $2.9 billion, according to estimates compiled by Reuters Research.

Nike (NKE: Research, Estimates) shares were little changed in after-hours trading on INET electronic brokerage after having closed at $76.82 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Record earnings and revenue propped up shares of design software maker Adobe Systems (ADBE: Research, Estimates) up 5.5 percent to $38.25 on INET. The stock closed at $36.27 on the Nasdaq.

First-quarter earnings hit a record $123 million, or 50 cents a share, versus a year-earlier net income of $54.2 million, or 23 cents a share.

Revenue leapt to a record $423.3 million, up from $296.9 million a year earlier, the San Jose, Calif.-based company said.

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Network-equipment maker 3Com Corp. (COMS: Research, Estimates) reported a wider third-quarter loss, sending its shares to $6.91 on INET, more than 2 percent lower than its $7.06 Nasdaq closing price.

The Cisco Systems rival posted a $85.6 million, or 22 cents per share, net loss for the quarter compared to a $79.2 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The EPS for the year-earlier quarter includes a 2 cents loss from discontinued operations.

Sales slipped to $171.8 million from $216.5 million during the same quarter last year.

Contract electronics manufacturer Solectron Corp. met Wall Street's earnings estimates as it reported a narrower second-quarter loss thanks to higher sales in its communications, networking and consumer markets.

Solectron's (ALE: Research, Estimates) shares, however, sank 8 percent to $5.61 on INET following their $6.10 closing price on the New York Stock Exchange.

The quarterly loss slimmed to $68.0 million, or 11 cents per share, from a net loss of $110.8 million, or 13 cents per share, a year earlier as revenues rose to $2.89 billion from $2.36 billion during the same period.

Excluding $74 million in restructuring and impairment charges, Solectron reported a loss of $16 million, or 2 cents per share, meeting analysts' expectations, according to Reuters Research.

There are no earnings reports scheduled for Friday.  

--from staff and wire reports