Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Microsoft Today

$374.55 +0.61 (+0.16%)

As of 10:22 AM Eastern

This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.

52-Week Range$356.28▼

$555.45Dividend Yield0.97%

P/E Ratio22.22

Price Target$561.20

Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ: MSFT is down approximately 20% in the last 12 months. Most of the news around the company has been negative.

There have been layoffs, significant ongoing capital expenditures to support its artificial intelligence ambitions, cost pressures in its gaming division, and the ongoing transformation of Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI.

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That’s created significant noise around the company and takes away from the fact that the company’s business is doing just fine. 

Significantly, investors are only paying about 22x earnings to own MSFT. That has some investors crying foul due to the company’s self-reported $80.1 billion in capital expenditures in the nine months ending March 31, 2026.

But there’s more nuance to that story than may appear. And that’s where the boring but beautiful story begins.

Microsoft's AI Spending Is Backed by Strong Cash FlowIt's fair to point out that Microsoft's free cash flow (FCF) is down. Operating cash flow over that nine-month stretch mentioned above was $127.5 billion, which means CapEx alone consumed roughly 63 cents of every dollar of operating cash generated. That's compared to about 51 cents in the prior-year period.

But there’s an equally compelling counterargument that needs to be considered in an honest discussion. That is, Microsoft is funding the buildout primarily through the cash machine it already runs, not by mortgaging the balance sheet.

In fact, long-term debt is actually shrinking. The $80 billion CapEx isn't leverage-fueled speculation; it's a company deploying its own cash to build infrastructure it expects to monetize. That should take investors to the company’s nine-month net income, which hit $98 billion.

The takeaway is that Microsoft’s cash generation engine isn't under stress. Perhaps more importantly, the company’s AI business surpassed an annual revenue run rate of $37 billion in the last quarter. That was up 123% year over year (YOY).

Azure grew 40%, and contracted future revenue was up 99% YOY to $627 billion. That backlog is the story behind infrastructure spending. Management is guiding for roughly $190 billion in capital expenditures for calendar year 2026 and simultaneously reporting demand that continues to outpace capacity.

Microsoft's Dividend Growth Story Is Easy to OverlookBut something else was going on behind the scenes in the last 20 years. In fact, it’s been the last 23 years. That’s the number of consecutive years that Microsoft has increased its dividend payment.

Microsoft Dividend PaymentsDividend Yield0.97%

Annual Dividend$3.64

Dividend Increase Track Record23 Years

Annualized 5-Year Dividend Growth10.24%

Dividend Payout Ratio21.67%

Upcoming Ex-Dividend DateAug. 20

MSFT Dividend History

Many investors will yawn at a yield of just 0.95%. However, the more salient number is the average annual growth rate of over 10% in the last three years. That's resulted in an annual payout per share of $3.64. Both numbers are well supported by a payout ratio of around 18% based on next year’s earnings estimates.

It may not mean much to say that Microsoft will be a Dividend Aristocrat in two years. But the company’s path to that title hasn’t come at the expense of growth. In the last 10 years, MSFT has delivered a total return of over 780%, and obviously, with a dividend yield under 1%, virtually all of those gains have come from stock price appreciation.

What makes the dividend story particularly compelling right now is the timing. Microsoft's next annual dividend increase is likely to be announced alongside its fiscal Q4 earnings report, due in late July. Investors who buy before that announcement lock in a lower cost basis on a growing income stream. That's a straightforward value proposition that tends to get overlooked with investors who are fixated on CapEx.

MSFT's Valuation Looks Increasingly AttractiveMSFT’s 20% decline in 2026 has quietly created one of the more attractive entry points Microsoft has offered in years. At roughly 22x forward earnings, MSFT is trading approximately 24% below its 10-year average price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 31x.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Price Chart for Wednesday, June, 24, 2026

Investors can choose to look at MSFT as a stock in distress. However, a more accurate framing may be to view it as a company being repriced because the market is impatient with infrastructure spending that hasn't yet fully shown up in free cash flow.

Microsoft’s business, however, hasn't missed a beat. Over each of the three most recent quarters, Microsoft posted 18% revenue growth. Operating margins expanded year-over-year in each of those same periods. Net income for the trailing 12 months recently crossed $125 billion.

Are those the numbers of a company in trouble? It doesn’t seem so. They look more like the numbers of a company transitioning from a software giant into a cloud and AI infrastructure platform. That transition is measurably ahead of schedule.

For investors who want exposure to AI without paying the speculative premiums attached to pure-play names, Microsoft is an unusual combination. It's a business growing at 18% annually, returning capital through buybacks and a growing dividend, with a balance sheet that carries more cash than long-term debt and a contracted backlog approaching two-thirds of a trillion dollars.

The noise around the stock may be real—but it’s also masking the opportunity.

Should You Invest $1,000 in Microsoft Right Now?Before you consider Microsoft, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Microsoft wasn't on the list.

While Microsoft currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

View The Five Stocks Here

The AI boom is creating opportunities across semiconductors, cloud computing, enterprise software, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and automation.

Inside this report, you’ll find 10 companies positioned to benefit as artificial intelligence moves from hype to real-world deployment and becomes a core growth driver for corporate America.

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Microsoft Today

$374.55 +0.61 (+0.16%)

As of 10:22 AM Eastern

This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.

52-Week Range$356.28▼

$555.45Dividend Yield0.97%

P/E Ratio22.22

Price Target$561.20

Strategic pivots rarely happen without a massive catalyst forcing the issue. For Microsoft NASDAQ: MSFT, that catalyst may be buried deep in the razor-thin margins of Microsoft's interactive entertainment division. A recent internal memo from Xbox Chief Executive Officer Asha Sharma revealed Microsoft expects the gaming unit to end fiscal year 2026 with a roughly 3% accountability margin.

When you place that figure next to Microsoft's approximately 39% corporate net margin, the structural drag becomes almost impossible to ignore. Retail investors often look at gross revenue, but institutional capital cares strictly about free cash flow and margin expansion.

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Dragging a highly profitable corporate structure down with a capital-intensive division creates an artificial valuation ceiling. Microsoft built a trillion-dollar empire on high-margin software and cloud architecture. Subsidizing loss-leader gaming consoles actively dilutes the immense profitability of Microsoft's core enterprise services.

The Real Cost of the Hardware WarThe physical hardware business remains notoriously cyclical and incredibly capital-intensive. Producing the physical boxes required to play modern video games demands massive upfront capital expenditures. Manufacturing costs have skyrocketed globally, with NAND memory and other critical component prices surging by up to 700% since the current generation of consoles originally launched.

These escalating physical production costs directly contributed to a severe 33% year-over-year plunge in Xbox hardware revenue during Microsoft's third quarter of fiscal year 2026. Selling hardware at a loss only makes financial sense if you can guarantee a massive, captive audience to buy high-margin software over a 10-year cycle. When the hardware costs outpace the software attach rate, the entire ecosystem begins to fracture.

Player 2: Losing the Install Base BattleUnderstanding the necessity of a structural overhaul requires examining the current state of the global gaming market. The install base deficit between Microsoft and Sony NYSE: SONY has widened to an unsustainable degree.

Sony's PlayStation 5 currently commands an estimated 75 million active units globally. That dominant market share completely dwarfs the 30 million units sold across the Xbox Series X and Series S ecosystem. This hardware gap directly caps the growth potential of Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's flagship recurring revenue subscription service. Microsoft attempted to bridge the resulting revenue shortfall with an aggressive pricing strategy in October 2025, raising the Game Pass Ultimate tier to $30 per month from its longstanding $19.99 per month price.

Consumers immediately demonstrated heavy subscription elasticity, resulting in millions of active cancellations. Subscription elasticity is a critical metric for software-as-a-service models. When a provider raises prices, they test the absolute pricing power of their ecosystem. Losing millions of users over a simple rate increase proves that Xbox Game Pass lacks the inelastic demand seen in Microsoft's enterprise software subscriptions.

A subsequent price correction to $23 per month in April 2026 stemmed the bleeding, but Microsoft failed to restore the subscription service to previous growth trajectories. You simply cannot maximize the return on a $69 billion investment, which is the exact price Microsoft paid for Activision Blizzard, by restricting popular software to a distant second-place hardware ecosystem.

Maintaining a closed hardware pipeline actively prevents Microsoft from licensing lucrative intellectual property to competitors. Third-party platforms often extract higher margins from Xbox titles than Microsoft realizes directly through physical console sales.

Respawning Xbox as a SubsidiaryChief Executive Officer Satya Nadella recently signaled a willingness to fundamentally change how Xbox operates. Strategic leaks indicate executive leadership may be heavily evaluating transitioning Xbox into a wholly owned, independent subsidiary.

This specific strategy directly mirrors the successful corporate structures of LinkedIn and GitHub. Operating as an independent subsidiary allows a division to maintain a distinct internal culture and operational agility, while simultaneously insulating Microsoft's broader earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) from division-specific volatility.

By operating independently, Xbox could aggressively pivot toward platform-agnostic cloud gaming. Shedding the financial obligation to win a hardware war allows the gaming brand to focus entirely on software distribution and recurring subscription revenue across all interactive devices, including smart televisions, mobile phones, and rival consoles.

Preparation for a leaner future is already underway internally. Microsoft is executing severe cost-reduction measures to eliminate bloated administrative overhead. Development studios, including Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine, are facing permanent closure or active spin-outs. Trimming these prestige, high-cost, low-return operations provides immediate overhead relief ahead of scheduled Microsoft corporate layoffs in July.

Leveling Up Shareholder ValueMicrosoft’s market sentiment has been turbulent recently, with shares slipping below $400 and the stock’s earnings multiple compressing into the low 20s. Even after that reset, Microsoft still trades like a company expected to deliver consistent, scalable growth. Funneling capital into low-margin gaming hardware threatens that narrative, particularly as investors scrutinize the rising cost of global artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Overall MarketRank™99th Percentile

Analyst RatingModerate Buy

Upside/Downside50.1% Upside

Short Interest LevelHealthy

Dividend StrengthStrong

News Sentiment0.90 Insider TradingSelling Shares

Proj. Earnings Growth15.04%

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High-profile money managers, including Bill Ackman at Pershing Square, have recently rotated capital out of certain megacap tech holdings, demanding absolute operational efficiency from the leaders of the artificial intelligence race. Microsoft is also facing shareholder lawsuits and increased scrutiny over the capital expenditure demands of the Azure cloud business. In this macroeconomic environment, maintaining a 3% margin is a luxury Microsoft can no longer afford.

Divesting the low-margin hardware infrastructure fundamentally restructures Microsoft's interactive entertainment sector. Removing billions in gaming hardware subsidies from Microsoft's balance sheet immediately improves return on equity and frees up vital capital. Microsoft can then redirect that capital into high-yield cloud computing infrastructure and Microsoft's active $60 billion share repurchase program.

The Final Boss: Executing the Spin-OffA structural shift away from physical hardware distribution introduces a compelling long-term thesis for Microsoft. Isolating the gaming division protects corporate earnings, streamlines internal operations, and positions Microsoft to dominate the software side of the entertainment sector without the heavy anchor of physical manufacturing.

Investors may want to monitor upcoming July restructuring announcements and carefully assess how a formalized subsidiary structure could improve forward earnings guidance before adding Microsoft shares to active portfolios.

Should You Invest $1,000 in Microsoft Right Now?Before you consider Microsoft, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Microsoft wasn't on the list.

While Microsoft currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

View The Five Stocks Here

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Finding stocks to buy and hold over the next decade is no easy task. If you rewind to mid-2016, could you have predicted all of the various notable events that occurred over the next few years: COVID-19, the rise of generative AI, presidential election results, or wars? I doubt it.

However, a few somewhat predictable items have panned out. One of those is cloud computing, which was just starting to pick up momentum in 2016 and turned out to be a great business over the next decade. I think there are a ton of signs that cloud computing will remain a strong business over the next decade-plus, driven by AI workloads that come online.

Two of my favorite stocks in this industry are Alphabet (GOOG +0.74%) (GOOGL +0.95%) and Microsoft (MSFT 0.21%). Both of these are major cloud computing providers, and I think that each makes for a solid investment right now.

Image source: Getty Images.

Alphabet Alphabet's cloud computing wing is known as Google Cloud. Google Cloud was the last of the major three cloud platforms to start up, but it has quickly risen to become a notable force among the three, the other being Amazon's (AMZN +1.55%) Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Google Cloud's revenue growth rate is by far the fastest. In the first quarter, its revenue rose by a jaw-dropping 63% year over year, adding nearly $8 billion in new business over the past 12 months. It also did a tremendous job expanding its operating margin from 18% to 33%.

All of this is occurring because Google Cloud has become a top place to run AI workloads. Alphabet has a strong generative AI offering, Gemini, native to Google Cloud. Gemini is a strong competitor in the AI arena and offers some of the highest-performing yet lowest-cost models in the market. The vast majority of AI applications are likely suited to this lower cost offering, making Google Cloud a top place to build AI applications.

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Furthermore, Google Cloud has a secret weapon: The Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). The TPU is a custom-designed AI chip that can offer superior cost-performance compared to GPU-based training and is another reason Google Cloud is so rapidly growing. In fact, the TPU is so effective that Alphabet is going to start selling TPUs to external clients as another revenue stream.

Alphabet is the fastest-growing cloud titan in the space and has a strong AI offering that's assisting it. I think it's a great buy now, as these AI workloads will need to run on Google Cloud's servers forever, leading to a great subscription-like model.

Microsoft Microsoft doesn't provide investors with as much information regarding Azure as Alphabet does with Google Cloud. Instead, it provides investors only with its growth rate, which was 40% year over year in its latest quarter. That's still an impressive growth rate, and what's driving that is Microsoft's neutral state.

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Unlike Alphabet, which would prefer its users to use its Gemini family, Microsoft is staying agnostic. Countless large language models can be accessed on Azure, making it a great place to go if you're not sure which AI model you want driving your application. But Microsoft also owns 27% of OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, so it also has a vested interest in having its clients choose ChatGPT.

Microsoft has also integrated ChatGPT across its various business productivity software via Copilot, which is part of an AI business unit with annual revenue of $37 billion, growing at a 123% clip.

Perhaps the most compelling part about Microsoft's stock is its stock price: It's down 30% from its highs. Considering the strength of Microsoft's core business and the longevity of the new cloud workloads coming online, I think this is a bargain, and investors should scoop up Microsoft stock alongside Alphabet's to form a great investment group that should crush the market over the next decade.

NEW YORK, June 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading securities law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and certain of the Company’s senior executives for securities fraud after its significant stock drop resulting from potential violations of the federal securities laws.

If you invested in Microsoft, you are encouraged to obtain additional information by visiting: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/microsoft-class-action-lawsuit.

Key Details of the Microsoft ($MSFT) Class Action:

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 11, 2026Alleged Misconduct: Securities fraud alleging that Microsoft misled investors regarding its Azure cloud computing platform and AI chatbot CopilotStock Drop: January 28, 2026 – 10% Stock DropCourt: U.S. District Court for the Western District of WashingtonAction: Contact BFA Law to discuss your rights
Investors have until August 11, 2026 to ask the Court to be appointed to lead the case. The complaint asserts securities fraud claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of investors in Microsoft common stock. The class action is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. It is captioned City of St. Clair Shores Police and Fire Retirement System, et al., No. 26-cv-02071.

Why is Microsoft Being Sued for Securities Fraud?

Microsoft is a multinational technology company that develops software, cloud services, and devices. In recent years, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform named Azure has been Microsoft’s main growth driver. A key reason for Azure’s recent growth is Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar investment into AI, including the development of its own generative AI chatbot named Copilot.

According to the complaint, during the relevant period, Microsoft consistently touted Copilot’s best-in-class capabilities, which purportedly drove widespread and growing user adoption. Copilot’s apparent success allowed Microsoft to report surging Azure-related revenue.

As alleged, in truth, Copilot suffered from severe functionality issues that caused user adoption to decline and put Microsoft’s Azure revenue at risk.

Why did Microsoft’s Stock Drop?

On January 28, 2026, Microsoft announced disappointing 2Q 2026 financial results and that Azure growth had slowed suddenly. Microsoft also allegedly revealed for the first time that the number of Microsoft 365 Copilot premium customers totaled only 15 million, materially below analyst estimates.

This news caused the price of Microsoft common stock to decline $48.13 per share, or 10%, from $481.63 per share on January 28, 2026, to $433.50 per share on January 29, 2026.

Additionally, on February 3, 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported in an article titled “Microsoft’s Pivotal AI Product Is Running Into Big Problems” that severe challenges and functionality issues had plagued Copilot, causing the application to lose market share. Specifically, The Wall Street Journal reported that “[c]onfusing brand positioning and interoperability problems have frustrated users.”

Click here for more information: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/microsoft-class-action-lawsuit.

What Can You Do?

If you invested in Microsoft, you may have legal options and are encouraged to submit your information to the firm.

All representation is on a contingency fee basis; there is no cost to you. Shareholders are not responsible for any court costs or expenses of litigation. The firm will seek court approval for any potential fees and expenses.

Submit your information by visiting:

https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/microsoft-class-action-lawsuit

Or contact:
Adam McCall
[email protected]
212.789.3619

Why Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP?

BFA is a leading international law firm representing plaintiffs in securities class actions and shareholder litigation. It has been named a top plaintiff law firm by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and ISS SCAS, and its attorneys have been named “Elite Trial Lawyers” by the National Law Journal, “Litigation Stars” by Benchmark Litigation, among the top “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers” by Lawdragon, “Titans of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” by Law360 and “SuperLawyers” by Thomson Reuters.

Most recently, The Legal 500 awarded BFA the most client satisfaction accolades of any plaintiff’s securities litigation law firm, with clients noting: “[t]here is no better service provider in the practice area,” “[t]he interest of the client is always front and center,” and “[t]here isn’t a better firm in this space.” One testimonial described the firm as “nimble and entrepreneurial,” with a “relentless focus on adding value for clients.”

Among its recent notable successes, BFA recovered over $900 million in value from Tesla, Inc.’s Board of Directors, as well as $420 million from Teva Pharmaceutical Ind. Ltd.

For more information about BFA and its attorneys, please visit https://www.bfalaw.com.

https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/microsoft-class-action-lawsuit

Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

by Lisa Stiffler on Jun 24, 2026 at 5:00 amJune 24, 2026 at 6:40 am

Aerial view of Microsoft data center campus in Wisconsin. (Microsoft Photo) Microsoft announced Wednesday that over the past two decades, it has become dramatically more efficient in its use of water to cool data centers, slashing its consumption rate by 90% compared to levels when it opened its first facilities in the early 2000s. The company used 0.27 liters per kilowatt-hour last year, about three times better than the industry average.

Microsoft has also hit its 2030 goal of being water positive across its operations, meaning it replenishes more fresh water globally than it consumes.

And if this sounds familiar, you’re not wrong. Earlier this month, Amazon shared similar water usage stats (though it performed better) and Google came out with updated pledges around being water positive.

The tech giants are working to quench concerns about water use, which has become a key point of contention nationwide. Communities and local leaders are protesting and passing moratoriums on new data center construction. Other concerns include significant energy use that could drive up utility rates and noise complaints.

At the start of the year, Microsoft tried to get ahead of those fears by launching its Community-First AI Infrastructure initiative, in which it vowed to cover its electricity costs and forgo local tax breaks. Last week, it came out in support of the Ratepayer Protection Act, a congressional measure addressing data center utility bill impacts, though it earlier opposed Washington state legislation targeting some of the same concerns.

Microsoft remains “deeply committed” to water protections, said Judy Priest, CTO of Cloud Operations & Innovation, and Steve Solomon, vice president of Datacenter Engineering, in a blog post Wednesday.

“We continue to advance datacenter innovations that reduce water use intensity while supporting the growing performance demands of cloud and AI services,” Priest and Solomon said.

Data centers use a variety of strategies to keep electronics cool, including fans, evaporative cooling, air conditioning and direct liquid cooling. The approaches involve tradeoffs: air conditioning draws more electricity but saves water, while evaporative cooling is less energy-intensive but consumes more.

Microsoft’s approaches to curb its water use include:

Cooling primarily with fans, supplemented by evaporative cooling when outside temperatures exceed 85 degrees. Using chip-level cooling that recirculates water through the system. Auditing data centers to ensure facilities are operating as designed and conserving water optimally. Expanding its use of recycled, reused or non-potable water. Comparing companies on this front is tricky. Microsoft’s liters-per-kilowatt-hour figure applies only to data centers it owns, while Amazon’s includes both its own computing facilities and leased ones.

And although Microsoft has already reached the goal set in 2020 of becoming water positive within a decade, it takes a global tally of water use and replenishment. In theory, that means water used in a desert climate could be offset by Microsoft’s actions in a wetter region.

The Community-First AI Infrastructure initiative, however, pledges to replenish more water than it uses in each district where it operates. That aligns with the approach used by Amazon and Google, though Amazon’s replenishment goal covers only data centers, not all of its operations.

While concern about data center water use is growing, it remains relatively modest in the broader context: data centers account for about 0.5% of all industrial water use worldwide, as Amazon recently noted.

In terms of total volume, Microsoft withdrew 2.7 billion gallons of water in fiscal year 2024 across its data centers and its other operations. For context, Seattle Public Utilities delivers roughly 43 billion gallons each year to 1.6 million people in its service area.

To close the gap, Microsoft is announcing new AI-powered tools and training to help educators and students use AI with confidence, clarity and impact

, /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday unveiled the third edition of its annual AI in Education Report1 that reveals both the momentum behind AI adoption in education and the opportunity ahead: helping schools move from interest and experimentation to meaningful, responsible implementation. Microsoft also announced today a new wave of AI-powered teaching and learning experiences, available at no-additional cost ahead of ISTELive 26. Designed with educator feedback and grounded in learning science, the new tools are intended to better learning outcomes, support stronger student engagement and critical thinking, and build confidence in how AI is used in the classroom.

Microsoft’s New AI in Education Report finds increased AI adoption and the need for more training. To close the gap, Microsoft is announcing new AI-powered tools and support to help educators and students. Introducing the 2026 AI in Education Report 
The research reveals three immediate areas of focus for education leaders working to turn growing AI adoption into meaningful, responsible outcomes2:

Adopt AI as a regular part of teaching and school operations. 92% of students and education leaders and 88% of educators have already used AI for school-related purposes. 58% of education leaders say their schools are already implementing or are scaling AI, and 78% of leaders, 76% of educators and 65% of students report that their AI use for school has increased over the past year. Close the AI skills gap with recurring, role-based training. 87% of educators and education leaders and 79% of students agree that knowing how to use AI effectively and responsibly is important for students' futures. Although 77% of students and 53% of educators say they have not received formal AI training, 66% of educators and 52% of students want their institution to provide AI training monthly or quarterly. Provide practical guardrails for responsible AI use in classroom. Academic integrity is a leading worry for both 41% of students and 42% of educators, reinforcing the need for clear, practical, classroom-level guidance about when and how AI should be used. "Educators around the world are embracing AI as a classroom ally, and they're now asking not if, but how to make the most of it," said Matt Jubelirer, General Manager, Education Marketing, Microsoft. "For Microsoft, that means designing AI experiences grounded in learning science and shaped by educator feedback to support instruction while keeping teachers in control. It also means pairing those tools with training and support that fit the time constraints of the school year, so teachers can use AI with confidence and impact. We're approaching AI in education as a partner in learning, built to earn educators' trust and help every student build skills and think critically, rather than just an 'answer engine' doing the work for them."

Announcing new AI-powered teaching capabilities
Microsoft is expanding its AI capabilities for education — bringing new, educator-informed tools directly into the Microsoft 365 Education ecosystem and the Learning Management System platforms educators use every day.

Unit Plans in Teach help educators move from idea to fully developed, standards-aligned plans in minutes — with global standards coverage, built-in structure and AI-powered refinement through the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. Student AI Guidelines and Learning Groups in Assignments enable educators to set clear expectations for responsible AI use and tailor instruction to meet diverse student needs — making it easy to define how students should use AI and helping build trust and confidence in the classroom. Learning Zone introduces educator-paced, live classroom experiences with real-time visibility into student activity and full control over lesson progression. Educators can now seamlessly integrate Learning Zone lessons into Assignments, creating a more connected learning workflow. Learning Zone is now broadly accessible for trial on all Windows 11 devices for the next year. AI as a coach for every student, built for critical thinking
Microsoft is expanding its AI capabilities to help students learn more effectively — introducing new experiences that support understanding, build independence and keep students at the center of the learning process.

Copilot Notebooks is now available as part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app at no additional cost with Microsoft 365 Education. With Copilot Notebooks, students can focus their learning within an AI-powered workspace built around their own materials — turning class content into structured, interactive study guides that make review and self-testing more effective. The Study and Learn Agent brings research-based learning directly into Copilot Chat, guiding students through concepts with interactive practice and real-time feedback — without doing the work for them. Across these experiences, students remain in control of their own learning with privacy protections built in to support responsible use.

Preparing educators and students for what's next
Training is the top form of support educators and institutions are asking for — and the stakes are clear: 87% of educators and education leaders, and 79% of students, agree that knowing how to use AI effectively and responsibly is important for students' futures.

To meet the need to provide AI skills and knowledge in schools today, the global Microsoft Elevate for Educators program offers community, credentials and capacity-building resources to help teachers and school leaders transform learning and teaching with AI. Microsoft has also introduced an AI Literacy for Educators credential pathway co-created with ISTE + ASCD and grounded in European Commission and the OECD AI Literacy Framework. The AI Literacy for Educators credential pathway, at no cost through Microsoft Elevate for Educators, will help equip educators with the knowledge and practices needed to navigate artificial intelligence in education with confidence, clarity and responsibility.

Microsoft is proud to champion teacher learning and community through the Microsoft Elevate for Educators program and to recognize teachers and school leaders who demonstrate a commitment to excellence with the Educator Expert and Showcase School designations. The advanced recognition application window for the 2026-2027 academic year will remain open through July 31, 2026. To apply and learn more visit Microsoft Elevate for Educators.

For more information about the 2026 AI in Education Special Report, new AI learning tools and Microsoft's commitment to responsible innovation in education, please visit the Microsoft Education blog or join us at the Microsoft booth during ISTELive 2026 in Orlando (June 28-July 1, 2026).

Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) creates technology platforms and tools, powered by AI, to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of customers. The company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

1 The Microsoft AI in Education report is conducted by PSB Insights interviewing 3,345 respondents across K-12 and higher education in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
2 Additional information about the research can be found in the Microsoft AI in Education report.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

Already in the first half of June, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) experienced significant insider selling activity as senior company personnel dumped more than $60 million worth of equity within just two weeks.

Still, while timing might appear conspicuous given the turbulence that hit the markets in the year’s sixth month, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicate the magnitude of the selling is primarily the result of AMD shares’ year-to-date (YTD) rally.

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This signal is triggered upon the reporting of the trade to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

  CEO Lisa Su dumped $57 million worth of AMD stock in June For example, the bigger of the two insider trades – the one executed by CEO Lisa Su on June 10 and disclosed on June 12 – featured the same number of Advanced Micro Devices shares as her sales in May and February: 125,000.

The reason why the latest stock market move was significantly bigger than the one towards the beginning of 2026 – $57.5 million versus $26.8 million – is the equity’s success. Indeed, on February 11, AMD was changing hands at $214.36, and on June 10, it was at $460.69.

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This signal is triggered upon the reporting of the trade to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

  Simultaneously, the situation is largely the same with the other executive responsible for June selling: Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Mark Pepermaster. 

Much like CEO Lisa Su, AMD’s CTO is a regular insider trader, and his June 15 sale – reported on June 17 – was relatively small when compared to some other market maneuvers of 2026.

Specifically, Pepermaster sold 6,000 shares at an average price of $536.33 for a total of $3.2 million. In contrast, he dumped more than 67,000 AMD shares across three batches in April for a total of roughly $21 million. 

The CTO’s other most recent trade, on the other hand, also featured 6,000 shares but raised a slightly lower $2.6 million due to the equity’s lower market price in mid-May.

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  Elsewhere, between AMD stock’s performance in recent months and the fact that, despite their size, the June insider trades appear consistent with the company executive’s admittedly frequent market activities, it appears there is little reason for investors to panic.

Since 2026 started, Advanced Micro Devices shares soared 140.47% from $223.47 to $537.37, and the world’s other semiconductor giant even evaded much of the June bloodbath: the equity is up 5.34% since June 1, despite several brief downturns.

AMD stock price YTD chart with June performance highlighted. Source: Google Looking ahead, Wall Street analysts have been highly confident in the blue-chip chipmaker, with nearly all rating and price target revisions issued in the last month featuring ‘Buy’ recommendations and significant 12-month forecast upgrades.

Even the least optimistic analysis provided in June – the June 3 note by Srini Pajjuri of RBC Capital – estimated AMD stock is a ‘Hold,’ not a ‘Sell,’ and predicted the equity would retain its value by trading at $540: a significant upgrade from the previous $400 prediction by the same institutional expert.

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AMD's growth rate has been accelerating and could improve further this year. Beating expectations will be key to the stock rising higher.

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David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management trimmed NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) by roughly 13% of shares and cut AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) by roughly 32% of shares while nearly doubling its Amazon position, adding about 2.14 million shares (an increase of roughly 98%) during the quarter ended March 31, 2026. The disclosure landed in the 13F filed May 15, 2026, and the math of the rebalance is what matters: Amazon became Appaloosa’s single largest disclosed holding at roughly 15% of the portfolio. This is point-in-time data; it tells you how Tepper was positioned at quarter-end, not what he owns this morning.

The featured AI play is Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and the AI angle is AWS. Tepper rotated capital out of two semiconductor names that have screamed higher into the hyperscaler that those chips sell into. AMD is up roughly 151% year to date through June 18, 2026, and NVIDIA has gained roughly 13% YTD after a multi-year run. Amazon, by contrast, is up about 6% YTD. The trim-and-rotate looks like classic Tepper: take profits in the crowded trade, shift dollars to the cheaper way to own the same theme.

The Thesis: AWS Is Reaccelerating The underlying data supports the rotation. AWS revenue grew 28% YoY in Q1 2026 to $37.59 billion, the fastest pace in 15 quarters, with a 38% operating margin. The growth ladder is striking: 17% in Q2 2025, 20% in Q3, 24% in Q4, then 28% in Q1 2026. That is the signature of durable enterprise AI demand, not a one-quarter spike.

Amazon is also building the picks-and-shovels in-house. The custom chips business (Trainium, Graviton, Nitro) crossed a $20 billion revenue run rate with triple-digit YoY growth, and Amazon has locked in landmark commitments: roughly 2 GW of Trainium capacity for OpenAI starting in 2027 and up to 5 GW for Anthropic. CEO Andy Jassy framed it bluntly: “AWS is growing 28% (our fastest growth in 15 quarters) on a very large base, our chips business topped a $20 billion revenue run rate (growing triple digits year-over-year).”

Valuation is the kicker. Amazon trades around 34x earnings versus AMD’s stretched 202x. Q1 also delivered EPS of $2.78 against a $1.73 estimate, a 61% beat, with Q2 2026 guidance of $194 to $199 billion in revenue.

Should Retail Follow? For a retirement-focused investor, the appeal is the diversified earnings base behind the AI exposure. Advertising revenue is running above $70 billion TTM and growing 24%, retail unit growth is healthy, and AWS provides the hyperscaler optionality. The risk worth respecting: planned 2026 capex of roughly $200 billion has crushed near-term free cash flow, and Q1 net income was lifted by $16.8 billion in non-recurring Anthropic investment gains. Polymarket traders are positioned consistent with the spending plan: an 87% implied probability that 2026 capex exceeds $200 billion.

The takeaway: Tepper’s rotation is worth studying, not blindly copying. Owning the customer of the AI buildout at 34x earnings, with a reaccelerating cloud franchise and a homegrown silicon business, is a defensible way to keep AI exposure without paying the chip-cycle premium. For a long-duration portfolio, Amazon at current levels lines up with the thesis. Keep an eye on the stock as AWS growth and capex digestion unfold over the next two quarters.

Advanced Micro Devices stock NASDAQ:AMD has surged roughly 150% this year, yet Wall Street’s average price target still sits below the stock’s current level.

That is the paradox now driving the debate around Advanced Micro Devices. The market has already decided AMD is no longer just a distant second to Nvidia in artificial intelligence chips.

Analysts are still catching up as some of the most bullish voices on Wall Street argue the company is being valued through an old lens, as a CPU maker with an AI side business.

The shift began with customer commitments.

OpenAI signed a 6-gigawatt agreement with AMD for next-generation AI infrastructure, starting with the first 1GW deployment of Instinct MI450 GPUs in the second half of 2026.

Meta followed with its own multi-year agreement for up to 6GW of AMD Instinct GPUs, also beginning with an initial deployment in the second half of 2026.

Oracle has committed to an initial 50,000 MI450 GPU deployment for its cloud infrastructure, with expansion planned from 2027.

OpenAI, Meta and Oracle are not small buyers experimenting with a second supplier. They are among the largest AI infrastructure spenders in the world.

When three of them independently back the same challenger, it starts looking like a shift in procurement strategy.

The message is not that AMD has caught Nvidia, but that the hyperscalers want another serious horse in the race, and AMD is increasingly the one they are choosing.

That is why the analyst's tone has changed so sharply.

Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley raised his AMD price target to $665 from $500 while keeping an Overweight rating, according to TheStreet.

O’Malley’s argument is that investors have framed the AI chip trade too narrowly for the past two years.

“CPU-to-GPU ratios are narrowing as CPU demand reaches new levels in the rapidly expanding world of agentic AI,” O’Malley said.

“AMD is best positioned to benefit from this transition.”

Citi’s Atif Malik also moved more firmly into the bull camp. He upgraded AMD to Buy from Neutral and raised his target to $575 from $460, according to Investor’s Business Daily.

Malik said AMD’s GPU opportunity remains underappreciated and described the company as a “legit second source” in the AI accelerator market.

Bank of America has widened the argument beyond GPUs. Analyst Vivek Arya raised the bank’s 2030 server CPU market forecast to more than $170 billion from $125 billion, according to Investing.com.

That matters for AMD because its EPYC server CPUs sit at the centre of the same AI data centres buying accelerators.

AMD is no longer being discussed only as a Nvidia alternative, but as a broader AI infrastructure company.

The catch is valuation, as AMD is no longer cheap in the traditional sense.

The stock trades at a steep forward earnings multiple, and much of the next leg depends on execution that has not yet shown up in reported revenue.

The MI450 ramp begins in the second half of 2026, which means investors are paying today for a story that still has to be delivered over several quarters.

Supply, software maturity and customer deployment timelines all matter as Nvidia’s ecosystem remains deeper, stickier and more battle-tested.

That is what makes AMD compelling now: the opportunity is real, but the easy excitement may already be priced in.

AMD (AMD 0.95%) is riding a wave of AI-driven data center growth. Record profits and 57% segment revenue growth prove the business is executing on its $120B long-term bet. But margins and execution pace will determine if the stock can justify its current valuation.

Stock prices used were the market prices of June 12, 2026. The video was published on June 22, 2026.

Rick Orford has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick Orford is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through their link, they will earn some extra money that supports their channel. Their opinions remain their own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.

I’m opening with the headline number. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD | AMD Price Prediction) is $586.55 over the next 12 months, against a current quote of $551.63. That implies 6.33% of upside and a buy recommendation, with our model registering 90% confidence.

The setup is unusual: a stock that has already run hard, yet still sits below where our proprietary blend and an 80% bullish analyst wall converge.

Metric Value Current Price $551.63 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $586.55 Upside 6.33% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% From $128 to $551 in 12 Months AMD has been one of the defining trades of 2026. Shares are up 17.99% over the past month, 157.58% year to date, and 330.15% over the past year from a starting price of $128.24. AMD trades 13% below the 52-week high of $562.99.

The catalyst is fundamental. Q1 2026 revenue hit $10.253 billion, up 37.9% YoY, beating expectations by 3.41%, while non-GAAP EPS of $1.37 beat by 5.88%. Data Center revenue grew 57% YoY to $5.77 billion. Recent news of a 30 MW Rackspace deployment and the MEXT memory-optimization acquisition extended the AI infrastructure narrative.

The Case for $614 and Higher Bulls anchor on the customer book. Lisa Su told investors “Customer engagement around MI450 Series and Helios is strengthening, with leading customer forecasts exceeding our initial expectations.” The OpenAI agreement covers 6 GW of GPU deployment, Meta committed to up to 6 GW of Instinct GPUs and named AMD lead supplier for 6th Gen EPYC Venice/Verano, and Oracle is standing up a 50,000-GPU Helios supercluster in Q3 2026.

Q2 2026 guidance of $11.2 billion implies 46% YoY growth with non-GAAP gross margin expanding to 56%. Of 51 analysts, 5 rate Strong Buy, 36 Buy, 10 Hold, and zero Sell. Our bull-case path takes AMD to $614.13, an 11.33% total return.

What Could Go Wrong AMD trades at a trailing P/E of 179 and forward P/E of 77. That is priced for flawless execution. U.S. export controls on MI308 GPUs already triggered $800 million in Q2 2025 inventory charges, and any escalation in China policy could repeat the hit.

Insider activity is also a yellow flag: insider transactions over the last 90 days exceeded $161 million in selling, including the CEO. Reddit sentiment has cooled, with the composite score sliding 26.57 points over 30 days.

The counterfactual matters. Heavy insider sales after a 330.15% run are partly diversification, not a thesis change, and the elevated P/E reflects depressed trailing earnings that the forward number normalizes. Still, our bear-case milestone is $446.48, a 19.06% drawdown if AI capex pauses.

AMD Price Prediction 2026-2030 Our 24/7 Wall St. price target of $586.55 is a buy at 90% confidence. The tipping factor is the hyperscaler order book: when Meta, OpenAI, and Oracle all anchor multi-gigawatt deployments on the same roadmap, the forward EPS estimate has real support.

I’d be a buyer here if MI450 ramp commentary stays positive through Q3 2026. I’d stay on the sidelines if China export policy tightens further or hyperscaler capex guidance softens.

Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $586.55 2027 $631 2028 $668 2029 $697 2030 $724.81 These projections assume AMD continues executing on its MI450 and EPYC roadmap with hyperscaler capex sustained through the decade. Significant upside or downside could result from custom-silicon competition, China export policy, or a step-change in inference economics.

The broader market remains intensely fixated on public hyperscalers hoarding silicon to build massive, general-purpose artificial intelligence models. Look one layer deeper into the physical economy, and a distinct structural shift is unfolding. Tier-2 data centers are quietly carving out highly lucrative, specialized niches to capture enterprise workloads that major public clouds cannot accommodate.

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$8.60Price Target$2.70

Rackspace Technology NASDAQ: RXT recently secured a binding agreement to deploy 30 megawatts of artificial intelligence compute power engineered exclusively by Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ: AMD. This specific infrastructure rollout fundamentally alters the trajectory for both AMD and Rackspace.

By securing AMD's Instinct processors to build a fully governed, compliant AI stack, Rackspace actively resolves data-sovereignty bottlenecks that block the healthcare and financial sectors from scaling internal machine learning models. The strategic silicon-level partnership instantly validates AMD's mid-tier cloud penetration, offering Rackspace a high-margin, verifiable revenue pipeline that market participants are already aggressively repricing.

Moving off the Drawing Board and Onto the GridRackspace Technology's share price has exhibited parabolic price action this year, surging over 600% year-to-date. It jumped 21% intraday immediately following the announcement of the compute agreement. Wall Street is currently digesting the transition of a non-binding memorandum of understanding into a definitive, monetizable contract.

Rackspace Technology, Inc. (RXT) Price Chart for Wednesday, June, 24, 2026

The agreement outlines a phased global data center deployment spanning late 2026 through 2028. This staggered timeline is a vital component of the overarching thesis. Rackspace avoids the immediate, crushing capital expenditure burden of outfitting 30 megawatts of server racks all at once.

To put 30 megawatts into perspective, that level of energy consumption is equivalent to a small city's power draw, requiring highly advanced liquid-cooling infrastructure and specialized power routing.

By staggering the rollout, Rackspace secures a structured path to deploy a highly sought-after hardware-as-a-service architecture, enabling it to match infrastructure spend with incoming enterprise client demand.

While elevated short interest has undoubtedly amplified the rapid expansion in Rackspace's valuation, acting as a mechanism for forced buying, the underlying catalyst represents a tangible narrative shift. Participants are no longer pricing Rackspace as a legacy managed-hosting provider facing terminal margin compression. Instead, they are repricing Rackspace as a high-density, infrastructure-agnostic AI play.

Fortifying the AI Grid for Data SovereigntyInvestors have to look at the end user to understand why 30 megawatts of dedicated compute is a massive competitive advantage. Highly regulated industries face staggering compliance hurdles. Hospitals managing sensitive clinical data and financial institutions running proprietary risk algorithms face strict regulatory constraints on where data resides and how it is processed.

Pushing governed workloads into a generic, public hyperscaler environment often triggers severe data sovereignty and compliance risks. Isolating algorithmic trading data from public internet scraping is nearly impossible on shared public clouds. Rackspace Technology solves this structural deficit by offering a private, governed AI stack.

By utilizing a hardware-as-a-service model, enterprise clients can sidestep the massive upfront capital expenditures required to purchase data center hardware. Clients simply rent the exact compute power needed within a secure, dedicated Rackspace environment.

This allows clinical healthcare providers to anonymize patient records and regional banks to run heavy inference workloads entirely in-house. Rackspace provides the fortified digital real estate, while Advanced Micro Devices supplies the horsepower required to analyze millions of data points per second.

Supplying the Horsepower Behind the AI RevolutionThe hardware architecture driving this deployment goes far beyond generic compute power. The agreement specifically leverages Advanced Micro Devices' Instinct accelerators, namely the MI355X and MI350P processors, which are paired directly with AMD EPYC server processors.

This establishes AMD as the foundational silicon partner for Rackspace Technology's newly launched Enterprise AI Cloud. For AMD, securing a footprint of this magnitude proves its hardware can successfully penetrate and dominate mid-tier enterprise cloud environments. AMD is proving it does not have to rely solely on Tier-1 hyperscalers to drive sustained enterprise volume. Because AMD architecture is highly competitive on a price-to-performance basis, Tier-2 data centers can adopt the technology while maintaining highly attractive margins.

The underlying fundamentals support this aggressive expansion. AMD recently posted 37.8% year-over-year revenue growth, beating earnings consensus by 8 cents per share. Operating cash flow sits at a husky $4.89 per share, providing the liquidity needed for AMD to continue out-innovating competitors in the accelerator space. Landing 30-megawatt contracts with specialized data centers signals to the market that enterprise architects actively trust and demand the AMD ecosystem.

Funding the Pivot and Keeping the Lights OnWhile the growth narrative is compelling, evaluating the fundamental realities of the balance sheet remains necessary. Rackspace Technology is navigating a precarious transition phase. Rackspace currently reports negative net margins of 5.41% alongside a recent earnings miss. Liquidity remains exceptionally tight, highlighted by a quick ratio of just 0.68, indicating that Rackspace holds only 68 cents in liquid assets for every dollar of short-term liabilities.

Transitioning from legacy cloud hosting to high-density AI infrastructure is highly capital-intensive. To support this pivot and alleviate immediate balance-sheet distress, Rackspace implemented strategic workforce reductions to slash operating expenses. This aggressive cost-cutting strategy acts as a bridge. Rackspace must drastically reduce cash burn today so it can survive to realize the high-margin, recurring revenue generated by the upcoming Advanced Micro Devices deployment.

The extreme divergence between the current trading price and the consensus analyst target of $2.70 suggests institutional skepticism remains. Insider activity reflects this cautious transition, with Rackspace's executive officers executing strategic equity sales in the lead-up to the announcement. The rapid stock surge requires flawless execution from Rackspace management over the coming quarters to justify newly assigned valuation premiums.

Evaluating the High-Voltage Return on Enterprise AIThe 30-megawatt pact between Rackspace and AMD is a textbook example of how the internet's physical infrastructure is adapting to regulated enterprise demand. Advanced Micro Devices continues to validate hardware prowess outside of the hyperscaler bubble, while Rackspace Technology attempts a massive, high-reward turnaround driven by specialized, governed cloud environments.

Investors tracking the semiconductor sector may view AMD as a staple allocation for sustained enterprise integration, especially given the $6 billion share repurchase program, which provides structural support. For those monitoring the data center land grab, Rackspace offers a high-beta vehicle tied directly to the hardware-as-a-service rollout.

Cautious investors may prefer to wait for current short-covering volatility to subside before establishing a position, watching closely to see if Rackspace can translate operational cuts into sustainable margin expansion ahead of the 2026 deployments.

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Despite remaining effectively flat since June started, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) stock has been enjoying a large number of bullish Wall Street analyst revisions in recent weeks.

The most recent institutional expert to weigh in with an optimistic assessment was UBS’ Timothy Arcuri, who, on June 24, assigned a ‘Buy’ rating to AMD shares while lifting the 12-month price target from $455 to $670.

According to the accompanying note, the analyst is particularly positive toward the semiconductor giant’s ability to capture the standalone central processing unit (CPU) market – a growing business given its rising importance in agentic artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.

Arcuri also noted that AMD stands to benefit from recent developments at Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), with a particular focus on the firm’s roadmap and supply challenges.

Wall Street sets AMD stock price target for next 12 months Zooming out, Wall Street’s optimism for Advanced Micro Devices’ future has been overwhelming since June started. 

Indeed, eight out of the nine notable revisions issued during the month feature a ‘Buy’ recommendation, with only Srini Pajjuri from RBC Capital assessing the blue-chip chipmaker as a ‘Hold.’

Wall Street sets AMD stock price target for next 12 months. Source: TipRanks Similarly, while the majority of the stock price forecasts have been bullish, Wells Fargo’s (NYSE: WFC) Aaron Rakers estimated AMD shares would retrace slightly to $505 despite estimating the equity is a ‘Buy.’

2026 AMD stock price Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices has been suffering from heightened volatility in recent weeks and is, having risen to $511.70 at press time, up just 0.3% since June 1.

AMD stock price one-month chart. Source: Google The slowdown came amidst wider turmoil in the financial markets as geopolitical uncertainty, a debate over the return on investment (ROI) from AI, and the drive to raise capital ahead of SpaceX’s (NASDAQ: SPCX) June 12 initial public offering (IPO) pressured investors.

Nonetheless, AMD remains a major winner of 2026 trading, and its shares are up 128.98% year-to-date (YTD).

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June 18, 2026 07:00 ET  | Source: Nokia Oyj

Press Release
Nokia Defense and KNDS close critical connectivity gap for soldiers and unmanned systems

Joint effort with KNDS, pan-European leader in land defense, enables high bandwidth 5G connectivity for forces and autonomous systems beyond vehiclesPowered by 5G deployable networks from Nokia Defense’s Banshee portfolio 18 June 2026 - Espoo, Finland and Villepinte, France – At the 2026 Eurosatory show, Nokia Defense and KNDS, a leading pan-European land defense company, have announced a collaboration to deliver advanced connectivity for soldiers and unmanned vehicles, addressing critical communication gaps on the modern battlefield. By integrating the Nokia Banshee Deployable Solution into the KNDS VBCI (Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle), the companies enable seamless, real-time connectivity as forces transition from armored vehicles into complex mission environments, supporting more responsive and coordinated operations.

Modern defense requires continuous communication across many manned and unmanned systems. However, maintaining reliable connectivity beyond the vehicle remains an operational challenge. This collaboration extends secure, high-speed 5G connectivity from combat vehicles directly to troops and robotic systems in the field, enabling continuous data exchange in contested scenarios.

Built for demanding conditions, Nokia Defense’s deployable 5G-based technology delivers high capacity, low latency, secure and resilient connectivity to improve situational awareness and mission coordination. Its flexible design enables rapid deployment in areas where communications are limited or unavailable.

“Defense operations depend on reliable, real-time data wherever militaries operate. This collaboration with KNDS shows how high-performance connectivity can move with the mission. By extending Nokia 5G networks beyond the vehicle, we are giving soldiers and autonomous systems the ability to operate more effectively in complex environments,” said Ari Kynäslahti, Head of Nokia Defense.

“At Eurosatory, we are showcasing how connectivity is becoming a core enabler of future land operations. Together with Nokia Defense, a partner selected for its technological leadership in tactical communications, we are demonstrating how next-generation tactical communications can be fully integrated into our combat-proven VBCI and deployed where needed, improving operational outcomes on today’s and future battlefield,” said Nicolas Groult, CEO of KNDS France.

Multimedia, technical information and related news
Web Page: Defense communications | Nokia.com

About Nokia
Nokia is a global leader in connectivity for the AI era. With expertise across fixed, mobile, and transport networks, we’re advancing connectivity to secure a brighter world.

About KNDS
KNDS is a leading pan-European land defense company, uniting nearly 11,000 employees and generating €4.4 billion in revenue in 2025. With a strong order backlog of €33.1 billion as of December 31, 2025, the group delivers innovative complete mission solutions built on state-of-the art technologies. Leveraging deep industrial expertise and strong partnerships, KNDS develops open, interoperable solutions combining manned and unmanned systems, designed to meet tomorrow’s operational challenges. As a prime contractor, it provides full system-of-systems capabilities, from platforms to ammunition and services, managing the entire value chain and encompassing complete product life cycles.

Born from the alliance of Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, KNDS embodies the path toward a collective and efficient future for the sovereignty of Europe’s defense by supporting the standardization and interoperability between European and NATO forces.

Trusted by 40+ armies worldwide, including 24 European armed forces, KNDS benefits from decades of combat-proven experience. KNDS embodies a united, efficient model to enhance stability and long-term security in Europe and beyond.

Media inquiries
Nokia Press Office:
Email: [email protected]

KNDS PR:
Guillem Monsonis, Head of Communications KNDS France, [email protected]
Fanny Mounier, Media Relations Manager KNDS France, [email protected]

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As graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters grow larger and more power-hungry, electrical connections are reaching their limits when it comes to speed, heat, and energy use. In separate announcements, both Goldman Sachs and Nokia (NOK +0.22%) recently flagged photonics as the next critical layer in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Optical networking, which uses light to move data, offers an alternative path forward.

Let's analyze this enormous commercial opportunity and explore what it could mean for Nokia as the Finnish company quietly transitions from yesterday's leader of mobile devices to an AI networking powerhouse.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

What is photonics, and why does it matter for AI? Photonics is the process of generating, controlling, and detecting light (photons) to transmit information. In AI data centers, silicon photonics takes this process a step further by integrating lasers, modulators, and detectors directly onto chips using existing semiconductor manufacturing lines. This integration can deliver measurable advantages over traditional electrical wiring, including higher bandwidth, lower latency, and reduced power consumption.

As AI training demands ever-larger clusters of GPUs, electrical signals are struggling to keep up without excessive heat and energy waste. Photonics solves this by enabling dense, energy-efficient optical links between chips and racks. This is essential, as compute power is no longer the main constraint of AI development -- connectivity is. Without scalable optical solutions, the next generation of AI applications will be limited by underlying infrastructure rather than silicon's capacity capabilities.

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How large is the optical networking market? Goldman Sachs calls optical networking the next mega-trend in AI infrastructure. Goldman's analysts project the total addressable market (TAM) for optical networking tied to AI to grow ninefold, rising from roughly $15 billion in 2026 to $154 billion by 2028.

The investment bank segments optical networking across two key subcategories. Scale-up networking, which is high-bandwidth connections within racks, accounts for $106 billion of the total TAM. Within scale-up networking are co-packaged optics (CPO), which integrate optical engines directly with processors for maximum efficiency. Goldman estimates CPO to be a $91 billion opportunity at scale.

How is Nokia making a push into photonics? Nokia is scaling its role in the photonics-driven data center shift. The company recently announced that it is expanding advanced test and packaging operations in Allentown, Pennsylvania, specifically focused on photonic chips for optical modules used in AI and telecom networks.

To better demonstrate that this isn't merely a marketing stunt, Nokia's first-quarter 2026 financial results showed clear momentum across the AI infrastructure supply chain. The company's AI & Cloud segment grew 49% year over year and already accounts for 8% of total sales. Moreover, Nokia's Optical Networks segment grew 20%, driven by AI & Cloud design wins for both pluggables and line systems. Meanwhile, the company booked 1 billion euros (~$1.1 billion) in new AI infrastructure orders during the first quarter alone.

When you measure this progress in combination with Nvidia's $1 billion strategic investment in late 2025 for AI-native networking collaborations, Nokia appears to be swiftly transitioning from a traditional telecom player to a meaningful contributor of AI infrastructure solutions via optical technologies.

Despite a strong rally -- Nokia stock has risen roughly 108% so far this year -- I think the company remains an attractive buy. Recent insider buying reinforces my view: In May, several executives and Board members, including Nokia CEO Justin Hotard, collectively purchased millions of dollars of Nokia stock, even as shares roared on heavy momentum.

Nokia is delivering tangible progress in AI infrastructure and making impressive moves across optical networking and photonics solutions. Recent insider buying, combined with secular AI-driven demand and hyperscale capacity expansions, suggests Nokia stock has further upside as the optical networking supercycle begins.

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988 (HKD Counter) and 89988 (RMB Counter), “Alibaba” or “Alibaba Group”) today announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026. The annual report can be accessed under the SEC Filing section on the Company’s investor relations website at https://www.alibabagroup.com/en/ir/secfilings.

The Company will provide a hard copy of its annual report containing the audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations Department, Alibaba Group, 26/F Tower One, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, S.A.R., the People’s Republic of China or via email at [email protected].

About Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group is a global technology company focused on AI + Cloud and consumption. We provide the technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help merchants, brands, retailers and other businesses to engage with their users and customers and operate efficiently. We empower consumers and enterprises with our full-stack AI capabilities and services. Our AI technology based on Qwen (Chinese: Qianwen), a family of large language and multimodal models, powers the intelligence behind our services across enterprise solutions, e-commerce and other Internet platforms.

Alibaba remains a buy despite a 40% drawdown, driven by high capex, negative free cash flow, and AI uncertainty. BABA's cloud segment accelerated to 38% YoY growth, with management targeting 40%+ intermediate-term expansion and AI driving future external revenue. I revise my intrinsic value target to $144 per share, reflecting lower EPS estimates and a reduced P/E multiple amid ongoing profit downgrades.

Alibaba continues to advance rapidly in AI, unveiling the Zhenwu M890 chip and launching new robotics AI models. Strategic focus on AI is underscored by the formation of the Token Hub business group, directly overseen by CEO Eddie Wu. Persistent U.S.-China tensions and renewed regulatory scrutiny from both governments are weighing heavily on Alibaba's valuation and investor sentiment.

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The analysis is provided exclusively for informational purposes and should not be considered professional investment advice. Before investing, please conduct personal in-depth research and utmost due diligence, as there are many risks associated with the trade, including capital loss.

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Chairman Joe Tsai is doubling down on an "all in" AI strategy, SCMP reported last Friday.

• Alibaba stock is showing weakness. Why is BABA stock trading lower?

At VivaTech in Paris, Tsai laid out Alibaba’s "full-stack" AI plan spanning chips, cloud infrastructure, foundation models and consumer applications, arguing AI could ultimately represent a $50 trillion total addressable market.

He also framed the bet as intentionally broad — investing across the value chain now and "figure out the winners later," rather than picking a single AI segment.

With the Nasdaq down 0.58% while the Russell 2000 is up 0.84%, Monday’s tape is mixed, and Alibaba is underperforming even as six sectors are advancing. That divergence suggests the market is still treating China mega-cap tech as a higher-risk pocket despite upbeat AI messaging.

Earnings & Analyst OutlookLooking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the Aug. 28 (estimated) earnings report.

EPS Estimate: $2.51 (Up from $2.06 year-over-year) Revenue Estimate: $38.72 billion (Up from $34.57 billion YoY) Valuation: P/E of 16.4x (Suggests fair valuation relative to peers) Top ETF ExposureSignificance: Because Alibaba carries significant weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows will likely trigger automatic buying or selling of the stock.

BABA Price ActionBABA Stock Price Activity: Alibaba shares were down 1.52% at $105.45 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Alibaba is poised for a structural re-rating with the launch of its Qwen-Robot embodied AI model, marking a pivotal shift to full-stack AI infrastructure. The Qwen-Robot model unlocks high-margin, recurring MaaS revenue streams by bridging large-scale multimodal AI with real-world robotics across industrial and commercial sectors. Consensus underestimates BABA's cloud revenue by 11%, as Qwen-Robot could add $2.5bn incremental revenue, supporting a 20–40% stock upside at 13–15x forward P/E.

By PYMNTS  |  June 23, 2026

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Alibaba Group sued the U.S. Department of Defense Tuesday (June 23), seeking to be removed from a list of companies the Department says are supporters of the Chinese military.

The Department published the list earlier this month, and Alibaba argues in its lawsuit that the designation violates the company’s rights to constitutional due process and free speech, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Alibaba said it is neither a Chinese military company nor a military-civil fusion, and the company said that the Defense Department did not reply to evidence the company presented showing that it is not a supporter of the Chinese military, according to the report.

A company’s inclusion on the Defense Department’s list can restrict its ability to contract with the U.S. military, can limit its ability to receive research funding, and can signal more punitive trade restrictions in the future, the report said.

Alibaba got its start as an eCommerce company but has since become one of the leading artificial intelligence companies in China, per the report.

Reuters also reported on the lawsuit Tuesday and said that on June 8, the Department of Defense expanded its list of businesses linked to China’s military to include 188 entities.

Alibaba said, per the report: “The determinations have no basis in fact or law. Alibaba is governed by an independent board, none of whom has any military affiliation. Its products and services are built for retail, logistics, and enterprise information technology — not weapons, defense, or intelligence.”

The Defense Department said in a June 8 press release that it identified the 188 companies included on the list after conducting its due diligence.

“The Department will update the list with additional entities as appropriate,” it said. “The United States Government reserves the right to take additional actions on these entities under authorities other than Section 1260H.”

Section 1260H is the statutory requirement of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 under which the Department updated the list.

In the list, the Department of Defense said Alibaba Group is indirectly affiliated with China’s State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) and is affiliated with the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), making the company a military-civil fusion contributor to China’s defense industrial base.

Key Takeaways Boeing's BDS unit generated $7.6B in Q1 revenues, up 21% year over year.Boeing booked $9B in defense orders and ended the period with an $86B backlog.Boeing expanded PAC-3 Seeker production and partnered with Rheinmetall on MQ-28 Ghost Bat. The Boeing Company’s (BA - Free Report) is best known for its commercial aircraft business, but its Defense, Space & Security ("BDS") segment could become an increasingly important contributor to future growth. As global defense budgets rise and military modernization efforts accelerate, Boeing appears well positioned to benefit from demand for advanced aircraft, autonomous systems, satellites, and defense technologies.

During the first quarter, the BDS unit generated $7.6 billion in revenues, up 21% year over year. While the segment has faced execution challenges in recent years, management continues to focus on improving operational performance and reducing costs across major defense programs.

The BDS unit booked $9 billion in orders, including contracts to continue E-7 Wedgetail development and additional international demand for KC-46 aircraft, which resulted in a solid backlog addition of $86 billion for the period ending March 2026.

During the aforementioned quarter, Boeing's defense business signed a seven-year framework agreement to expand PAC-3 Seeker production and announced a strategic partnership with Rheinmetall to offer the MQ-28 Ghost Bat to Germany. In April, Artemis II successfully completed its mission to the moon, propelled by the Boeing-built Space Launch System core stage rocket.

While commercial aviation remains Boeing's largest business, improving execution, expanding international opportunities, and progress across key defense programs suggest that the BDS segment could become a more meaningful growth driver in the years ahead. If management continues to improve program performance while securing new contracts, the defense business may play an increasingly important role in Boeing's long-term recovery and growth strategy.

Defense Contractors Benefiting From Military ModernizationRising geopolitical tensions, evolving security threats, and the need to replace aging military equipment are prompting governments across the world to increase defense spending and accelerate military modernization programs. These trends are creating significant growth opportunities for leading aerospace and defense companies. Several companies that are well positioned to benefit from these favorable industry dynamics are discussed below.

Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) benefits from strong demand for advanced defense platforms, including the F-35 fighter jet, missile defense systems and space technologies.

RTX Corporation (RTX - Free Report) continues to secure defense contracts across missile systems, air defense solutions, and military aerospace programs, supported by rising global security spending.

BA Stock’s Earnings EstimatesThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 and 2027 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year improvement of 98.6% and 2,813.2%, respectively.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

BA Stock Trades at a DiscountIn terms of valuation, BA’s forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) is 1.74X, a discount to the industry’s average of 2.61X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

BA Stock’s Price PerformanceIn the past three months, the company’s shares have risen 10.2% against the industry’s 4.4% decline.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

BA’s Zacks RankThe company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

When deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock, investors often rely on analyst recommendations. Media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts often influence a stock's price, but are they really important?

Let's take a look at what these Wall Street heavyweights have to say about Boeing (BA - Free Report) before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage.

Boeing currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.52, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 29 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.52 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.

Of the 29 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 21 are Strong Buy and three are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 72.4% and 10.3% of all recommendations.

Brokerage Recommendation Trends for BA

Check price target & stock forecast for Boeing here>>>

The ABR suggests buying Boeing, but making an investment decision solely on the basis of this information might not be a good idea. According to several studies, brokerage recommendations have little to no success guiding investors to choose stocks with the most potential for price appreciation.

Are you wondering why? The vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover often results in a strong positive bias of their analysts in rating it. Our research shows that for every "Strong Sell" recommendation, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations.

In other words, their interests aren't always aligned with retail investors, rarely indicating where the price of a stock could actually be heading. Therefore, the best use of this information could be validating your own research or an indicator that has proven to be highly successful in predicting a stock's price movement.

Zacks Rank, our proprietary stock rating tool with an impressive externally audited track record, categorizes stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), and is an effective indicator of a stock's price performance in the near future. Therefore, using the ABR to validate the Zacks Rank could be an efficient way of making a profitable investment decision.

Zacks Rank Should Not Be Confused With ABRAlthough both Zacks Rank and ABR are displayed in a range of 1--5, they are different measures altogether.

The ABR is calculated solely based on brokerage recommendations and is typically displayed with decimals (example: 1.28). In contrast, the Zacks Rank is a quantitative model allowing investors to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.

It has been and continues to be the case that analysts employed by brokerage firms are overly optimistic with their recommendations. Because of their employers' vested interests, these analysts issue more favorable ratings than their research would support, misguiding investors far more often than helping them.

On the other hand, earnings estimate revisions are at the core of the Zacks Rank. And empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

In addition, the different Zacks Rank grades are applied proportionately to all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide current-year earnings estimates. In other words, this tool always maintains a balance among its five ranks.

There is also a key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank when it comes to freshness. When you look at the ABR, it may not be up-to-date. Nonetheless, since brokerage analysts constantly revise their earnings estimates to reflect changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in predicting future stock prices.

Should You Invest in BA?Looking at the earnings estimate revisions for Boeing, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has remained unchanged over the past month at -$0.15.

Analysts' steady views regarding the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by an unchanged consensus estimate, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Boeing. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

It may therefore be prudent to be a little cautious with the Buy-equivalent ABR for Boeing.