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CI Investments Inc. lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 10.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 883,029 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 98,510 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.4% of CI Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. CI Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $505,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Keybank National Association OH lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Finally, Third View Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,789,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,393 shares of company stock worth $22,141,163 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wedbush initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $671.00 price target on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.64.

Get Our Latest Research Report on META

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name. Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00. Meta Platforms Stock Performance NASDAQ META opened at $595.19 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $604.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $625.53. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Profile (Free Report)

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Meta Platforms RTX and Lockheed Earnings: Can Strong Guidance Reset the Defense Trade? These 4 Earnings Reports Expose the Market’s Growing Economic Divide Broadcom May Be the Biggest Winner From Alphabet’s Earnings Volatility Is Back and These 3 Market Tollbooths Are Best Positioned to Profit Want to see what other hedge funds are holding META? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report).

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Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 34.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 112,414 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,925 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.9% of Coronation Fund Managers Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $64,315,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Meta Platforms News Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name. Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,393 shares of company stock valued at $22,141,163. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $671.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $835.64.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on META

Meta Platforms Stock Performance META opened at $595.19 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $604.51 and its 200-day moving average is $625.53. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile (Free Report)

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.

Recommended Stories Five stocks we like better than Meta Platforms RTX and Lockheed Earnings: Can Strong Guidance Reset the Defense Trade? These 4 Earnings Reports Expose the Market’s Growing Economic Divide Broadcom May Be the Biggest Winner From Alphabet’s Earnings Volatility Is Back and These 3 Market Tollbooths Are Best Positioned to Profit

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The road to the giant project was paved with secret meetings and an ever-expanding building plan.

I hit the buy button on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META | META Price Prediction) again last week, and I will hit it again this week if the capex conversation around Wednesday’s earnings knocks the stock down further. That is the confession. The company keeps handing me evidence that its core engine is stronger than the headline noise around AI spending, and I keep responding by adding shares.

What pulls me back is simple. Meta owns the largest connected audience in human history and monetizes it at margins most industrial companies only dream about. In Q1 2026, family daily active people reached 3.56B. That is the audience. Ad impressions grew 19% year over year and the average price per ad grew 12%. Both dials turning at once is the reason my thesis stays intact.

Three Pillars Under the Buy Button First, the ad engine. Q1 2026 revenue came in at $56.31B, up 33.1% YoY, with EPS of $10.44 beating the $6.66 estimate for the fifth straight beat. Operating income grew to $22.87B and the operating margin held at 41.4%. Advertising revenue of $55.02B is doing the heavy lifting while Reality Labs’ $4.03B quarterly loss barely dents the P&L.

Second, the balance sheet. Debt/equity sits at 0.386. Interest coverage is 71.5x. Cash on hand: $23.43B against $395.25B in assets. ROE is 30.24%, ROIC 20.69%. When a company tells me it plans to spend $125B to $145B on capex in a single year, I want to see it can absorb execution stumbles without financial strain. Meta can.

Third, capital return. FY2025 buybacks totaled $26.25B and the quarterly dividend of $0.53 runs roughly $1.34B per quarter. An FCF yield of 3.53% keeps real cash flowing back to owners while the AI buildout runs.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Meta didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Why Meta and Not the Obvious Alternatives I already own Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and passed on adding more because Meta’s operating margin of 41.4% and ROE of 30.24% deliver a cleaner return-on-capital profile than any other ad-supported name I hold. I looked at Snap (NYSE:SNAP) and could not build a case that competes with Meta’s 3.56B daily active people scale advantage. On the AI valuation debate, Polymarket’s crowd assigns 82% odds that Meta finishes 2026 with a higher valuation than OpenAI. The market already believes the incumbent wins this stretch of the race.

The Real Risk The risk is capex, plainly stated. Full-year 2026 capex was raised to $125B to $145B from $115B to $135B, citing higher component pricing and data center costs. After the Q4 2025 report, shares dropped 8.55% on earnings day when the initial capex bomb landed. The one-week move of -7.87% into this week’s Q2 report shows the market rehearsing that trade again. I take the risk seriously. What keeps me buying is that Q1 2026 free cash flow still grew 11.7% to $12.39B while capex jumped 46.8%. Meta is spending from a position of operational strength.

What Keeps the Buy Button Active This remains a compounder trading at a P/E of 22, with a 3.56B-person audience, a 41.4% operating margin, and a balance sheet that can absorb every dollar of AI spend without touching the dividend or the buyback. I will keep buying until one of those numbers breaks.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Meta didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Tesla, Inc. shares have dropped ~30% YTD, erasing last year's gains and entering a bear market. I maintain a Buy rating on TSLA stock, viewing the recent ~20% post-Q2 correction as a potential buying opportunity. Short-term margin and cash flow concerns are driving the current selloff, but I see these as less critical and more temporary than sentiment suggests.

Key Takeaways Alphabet beat Q2 earnings estimates as Search and Cloud delivered strong year-over-year revenue growth. Google Cloud revenue surged 82%, with AI infrastructure, enterprise AI and TPU system sales boosting results. GOOGL raised 2026 capex guidance to expand AI infrastructure and meet growing Cloud services demand. The undisputed global leader of Internet search engine and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cloud giant Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) came up with solid second-quarter 2026 earnings results, easily surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate with respect to both the top and bottom lines.

However, the stock price of GOOGL took a southward direction on concerns of a sharp increase in AI capital expenditure (capex). This concern is uncalled for as Alphabet has started monetizing its AI expenditures. 

Moreover, the highly competitive AI space is changing its character day to day. AI product’s life cycle is extremely short, and for that corporates need to pump money continuously to introduce upgraded and innovative products to stay competitive.

Alphabet raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $195-$205 billion from $180-$190 billion. The increase reflects accelerated capacity deployment to meet demand for AI infrastructure and Cloud services. GOOGL expects capital expenditures to increase significantly again in 2027.

The chart below shows the price performance of GOOGL year to date.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

AI Monetization StartsIn second-quarter 2026, Google Search & other revenues climbed 17% year over year to $63.27 billion, primarily due to the fact that AI-powered Search experiences continued to drive query growth. AI Mode surpassed one billion monthly active users after its global expansion.

Google Cloud revenues hit $24.77 billion, soaring 82% year over year. Cloud operating income more than tripled to $8.81 billion and operating margin expanded to 35.6% from 20.75 in the year-ago quarter. 

The solid performance was driven by Google Cloud Platform, enterprise AI solutions, AI infrastructure and core services. The company also began recognizing revenues from tensor processing unit (TPU) system sales to customer AI-powered data centers.

CEO Sundar Pichai said that the jump in cloud revenues was "driven by demand for AI infrastructure and AI solutions." Investors should remember that this division turned profitable only in early 2023. 

Alphabet’s AI Adoption Accelerates Alphabet continues to benefit from investments in infrastructure, security, data management and analytics, along with its partnership with NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA - Free Report) and a growing global footprint of cloud regions and availability zones. 

Google Cloud’s differentiated full-stack AI approach strengthens Alphabet’s competitive positioning. The company integrates its own infrastructure — TPUs and GPUs (graphics processing units) — proprietary AI models (Gemini), and data platforms (like BigQuery) into a unified offering. 

This vertical integration enhances performance, lowers costs and creates higher switching barriers for enterprise customers. As a result, Alphabet is winning larger deals, accelerating customer acquisition, and deepening relationships, all of which reinforce long-term growth potential.

In the last reported quarter, Gemini model APIs processed roughly 22 billion tokens per minute, up from more than 16 billion in the previous quarter. The Gemini app reached 950 million monthly active users, with daily active users tripling year over year. 

Alphabet also reported strong adoption of Gemini-powered advertising tools, including AI Max and Performance Max. Management remained encouraged by monetization on queries featuring AI Overviews and continued testing new ad formats within AI Mode.

Solid Estimate Revisions and Price UpsideFor 2026, the Zacks Consensus Estimate currently shows revenues of $430.67 billion, suggesting an improvement of 25.6% year over year and earnings per share of $17.81, indicating an increase of 64.8% year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 21.3% in the last seven days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The short-term average price target of brokerage firms represents an increase of 36% from the last closing price of $319.74. The brokerage target price is currently in the range of $365-$515. This indicates a maximum upside of 61.1% and no downside. 

Investment ThesisAlphabet currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. GOOGL represents a rare opportunity to invest in a company with proven execution and substantial unrealized potential in the AI revolution. 

The astonishing growth potential of the global AI-powered cloud market and its strong guidance and business visibility offer near-term potential. At this stage, it will be prudent to buy GOOGL. Hold this stock for the long term as the company’s extensive AI thrust will generate more value. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Alphabet GOOGL shares rebounded on Monday after suffering a sharp selloff following last week's quarterly earnings, with several Wall Street brokerages maintaining bullish recommendations even as they trimmed price targets in response to the company's aggressive artificial intelligence investment plans.

Shares of the Google parent rose nearly 3% at the market open, signalling that investors were buying the dip after last week's decline.

The gain came with a broader recovery in markets amid a pause in fighting between the US and Iran over the weekend, with both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 up by 0.7%.

Even with Monday's recovery, the stock remained down about 6.6% over the past five trading sessions after investors reacted negatively to the company's sharply higher capital expenditure guidance and its first-ever quarter of negative free cash flow since listing in 2004.

The rebound comes as analysts increasingly argue that while Alphabet's AI spending will weigh on cash generation in the near term, it also strengthens the company's long-term competitive position across cloud computing, search and digital advertising.

The pattern emerging across Wall Street has been notable.

Several brokerages have lowered their price targets for Alphabet while leaving their positive ratings unchanged, signalling that analysts still expect the stock to outperform despite becoming more conservative on near-term valuation.

Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to Buy from Accumulate, although it reduced its price target to $425 from $450.

Even after the cut, the revised target implies roughly 33% upside from Friday's closing price.

The brokerage said Alphabet delivered "robust revenue growth across core business segments", supported by resilient advertising performance following Gemini integration.

Second-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings both increased 24% from a year earlier, while Google Cloud revenue surged 82% to $24.8 billion, comfortably beating analysts' expectations.

However, analyst Serena Lim Yi Qi noted that Alphabet's record AI spending resulted in free cash flow turning negative.

"Free cash flow turned negative for the first time due to heavy AI investment, but we believe temporary FCF pressure should support stronger long-term AI growth and revenue visibility," Qi wrote.

She added that Alphabet's vertically integrated AI ecosystem and Gemini models should continue supporting growth across its advertising and cloud businesses.

Other research firms have taken a similar approach.

DA Davidson reduced its price target to $350 from $375 while maintaining a Neutral rating.

Cantor Fitzgerald lowered its target to $420 from $435 but kept its Overweight recommendation, citing stronger-than-expected Google Cloud performance alongside rising AI infrastructure costs.

Raymond James also reduced its target to $400 from $425 while reiterating its Strong Buy rating, describing results as broadly in line with expectations and highlighting stronger performances from YouTube and Google Cloud despite relatively softer Search growth.

Alphabet's second-quarter earnings reflected both the opportunities and costs associated with the AI race.

Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% year over year to $24.8 billion, far exceeding analysts' forecasts for roughly 64% growth, according to LSEG data.

Yet the positive earnings surprise was overshadowed by management's announcement that capital expenditure during 2026 is now expected to reach between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from earlier guidance of $180 billion to $190 billion.

The spending plans also surpassed analyst estimates of approximately $188 billion.

At the same time, Alphabet reported negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion, reversing nearly $25 billion in positive free cash flow generated during the corresponding quarter last year.

Management acknowledged that pressure on cash generation is likely to continue.

Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said the higher spending primarily reflects efforts to expand computing capacity fast enough to meet surging AI demand.

She also cautioned investors that free cash flow would remain under pressure as Alphabet continues building technical infrastructure to support future growth.

The market reaction reflected growing concerns that even the world's largest technology companies are now spending faster than they generate cash.

Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, questioned whether investors would remain patient if capital spending continued climbing.

"After a negative cash flow quarter, the new raise in capex does not sit well for Alphabet," he said.

"The market's most reliable cash generators are now spending more than they bring in. As long as revenue keeps accelerating, investors will tolerate it. But capital has a real cost again, and the room for error is shrinking every quarter.

Credit ratings agency Moody's believes the industry's investment cycle is fundamentally changing how large technology companies finance their businesses.

In a research note released this week, Moody's said the AI infrastructure race is forcing companies that traditionally relied on software and intellectual property into far more capital-intensive business models.

"Previously, these companies relied on asset-light structures centered on software, intellectual property, and scalable cloud services that required modest capital investment," Moody's said.

"The transition from asset-light to asset-heavy models requires unprecedented levels of investment and capital raising."

The agency estimates that annual capital expenditure across Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Oracle and CoreWeave will reach approximately $785 billion in 2026 before approaching $1 trillion the following year.

According to Moody's, direct debt across those companies has already climbed to roughly $460 billion.

The ratings agency warned that the investment surge "threatens credit quality" as companies increasingly rely on debt, equity issuance and other financing methods to fund data centres and AI infrastructure.

Despite concerns over cash generation, several analysts argue Alphabet is already demonstrating that its investments are paying off.

Google Cloud continues to grow substantially faster than many rivals, while cloud operating margins have also improved.

Morningstar analyst Malik Ahmed Khan said investors should focus more closely on the financial returns being generated from Alphabet's AI investments.

"We'd position investor attention on the real returns the firm is generating from its large AI investments, including significant growth in its cloud business and core advertising business. We model continued acceleration as the firm's hardware sales inflect upward in 2027," Khan wrote.

"We maintain our USD 433 fair value estimate for wide-moat Alphabet, and continue to view its AI monetization across chips, infrastructure, models, and applications as a great way for investors to gain AI exposure without being limited to a specific part of the AI stack."

Other market commentators have reached similar conclusions.

According to The Motley Fool, Alphabet's cloud revenue growth, improving margins and continued strength in Search demonstrate that the company is already extracting commercial value from its AI investments.

"Given the cost edge the company currently has with its TPUs, the right move is to press its advantage and spend aggressively on AI infrastructure. This is the smart decision, regardless of how the stock reacts," wrote Geoffrey Seiler.

He noted that Alphabet currently trades at roughly 22 times forward earnings estimates for 2026, describing that valuation as attractive given its leadership across multiple layers of the AI ecosystem.

"Alphabet remains well-positioned, and its growth prospects look bright," Seiler wrote.

"I'd be a buyer of Alphabet stock on this dip."

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 27th, 2026

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 4.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,248 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $11,090,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Narwhal Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 216,606 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $49,997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,854 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,653,228 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,690,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,275,942 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 39,264 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $9,063,000 after purchasing an additional 4,713 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 36,485 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $8,421,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. now owns 30,444 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $7,027,000 after buying an additional 2,412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets AMZN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $325.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. TD Securities raised shares of Amazon.com to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Amazon.com from a “moderate buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Fifty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.91.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on AMZN

Insider Buying and Selling In other Amazon.com news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total value of $4,074,007.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,729,480.60. The trade was a 52.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $239,770.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 484,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,175,038.79. The trade was a 0.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 140,425 shares of company stock worth $37,715,464 in the last ninety days. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amazon.com Stock Performance Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $232.11 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.00 and a 1-year high of $278.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $248.26 and its 200 day moving average is $236.34.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The business had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. Amazon.com’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Amazon.com Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

Positive Sentiment: Options data and several analyst/commentary pieces suggest traders expect a post-earnings move higher, and multiple firms remain bullish on AMZN heading into the July 30 report. Ahead of Amazon Earnings, Here’s What Barchart Data Says Comes Next for AMZN Stock Positive Sentiment: India eased e-commerce export rules, which is a win for Amazon’s international marketplace ambitions and could support long-term growth. India relaxes e-commerce investment rules for exports in win for Amazon Positive Sentiment: Several bullish research notes continue to frame AWS, custom silicon, and Amazon’s AI buildout as long-term growth drivers, with some investors arguing the capex surge should ultimately strengthen Amazon’s competitive moat. Amazon: Why The CapEx Surge Makes Me More Bullish, Not Less About Amazon.com (Free Report)

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Amazon.com RTX and Lockheed Earnings: Can Strong Guidance Reset the Defense Trade? These 4 Earnings Reports Expose the Market’s Growing Economic Divide Broadcom May Be the Biggest Winner From Alphabet’s Earnings Volatility Is Back and These 3 Market Tollbooths Are Best Positioned to Profit Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMZN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report).

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Check Capital Management Inc. CA boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 5,762.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 204,087 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 200,606 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for 1.2% of Check Capital Management Inc. CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Check Capital Management Inc. CA’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $42,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,036,091 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $885,478,000 after buying an additional 397,007 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,045 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,495,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,016,869 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $442,481,000 after buying an additional 54,987 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 28,975 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,357,000 after acquiring an additional 1,518 shares during the period. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,153,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amazon.com News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

Positive Sentiment: Options data and several analyst/commentary pieces suggest traders expect a post-earnings move higher, and multiple firms remain bullish on AMZN heading into the July 30 report. Ahead of Amazon Earnings, Here’s What Barchart Data Says Comes Next for AMZN Stock Positive Sentiment: India eased e-commerce export rules, which is a win for Amazon’s international marketplace ambitions and could support long-term growth. India relaxes e-commerce investment rules for exports in win for Amazon Positive Sentiment: Several bullish research notes continue to frame AWS, custom silicon, and Amazon’s AI buildout as long-term growth drivers, with some investors arguing the capex surge should ultimately strengthen Amazon’s competitive moat. Amazon: Why The CapEx Surge Makes Me More Bullish, Not Less Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.42, for a total value of $5,268,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,205,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $581,042,879.72. This represents a 0.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,363 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.38, for a total transaction of $620,003.94. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 119,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,427,876.40. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 140,425 shares of company stock valued at $37,715,464 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $232.11 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $248.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $236.34. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.00 and a 52-week high of $278.56.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The company had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The business’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMZN. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $298.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, May 1st. New Street Research boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.91.

View Our Latest Report on Amazon.com

About Amazon.com (Free Report)

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.

Recommended Stories Five stocks we like better than Amazon.com RTX and Lockheed Earnings: Can Strong Guidance Reset the Defense Trade? These 4 Earnings Reports Expose the Market’s Growing Economic Divide Broadcom May Be the Biggest Winner From Alphabet’s Earnings Volatility Is Back and These 3 Market Tollbooths Are Best Positioned to Profit Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMZN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report).

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I keep buying Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) every time Wall Street decides the capex bill is too high, and this quarter I am buying again. The stock closed at $233.66 on Thursday after a 4.57% single-day drop and a 6.49% weekly slide. The trigger is familiar: Andy Jassy telling shareholders Amazon plans to invest roughly $200 billion in capital expenditures in 2026. I have seen this movie in 2000, 2014, and 2022. Every time the market panicked about Amazon spending too much, the compounding on the other side rewarded patience.

The Thesis in Plain English Amazon is the largest cloud, advertising, and custom-silicon business on earth wearing a retail wrapper, with a retail arm attached. AWS grew 28% year over year in Q1 2026, its fastest growth in 15 quarters, at a 37.7% operating margin. Advertising crossed $70 billion in trailing revenue. The chips business (Graviton, Trainium, Nitro) is at a $20 billion annual run rate growing triple digits. That is what I am buying.

Three Reasons the Panic Reads as a Gift First, the backlog. AWS carried a $364 billion backlog at the end of Q1, and that figure excludes the over $100 billion Anthropic commitment signed after quarter close. Trainium alone sits on over $225 billion in revenue commitments. This capex is backed by contracted demand.

Second, the math of prior cycles. In FY 2022 free cash flow ran negative $16.9 billion as capex hit $63.6 billion. Within two years, operating cash flow reached $139.5 billion and net income climbed to $77.7 billion. Jassy stated it directly: “We have been through this cycle with the first big AWS growth wave, and we like the results.”

Third, valuation and quality. Trailing P/E of 30, forward P/E of 29, ROE of 24.3%, interest coverage of 35x, and net debt/EBITDA of 0.45. Analysts carry a $313.13 average target with 62 buy or strong-buy ratings and zero sell ratings.

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Why Not Microsoft or Alphabet Readers will ask why I keep passing on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL). Both are fine businesses. Amazon offers something they cannot match right now: AWS growing 28% at a 37.7% operating margin, layered onto retail unit growth of 15%, the highest since COVID. Alphabet just took its own capex-panic hit after raising infrastructure spending again, missing EPS forecasts despite a revenue beat. I want the hyperscaler where the ad business, the retail flywheel, and custom silicon all subsidize the compute bill.

The Risk I Refuse to Wave Away Trailing free cash flow collapsed 95% to $1.2 billion. Long-term debt climbed to $119.1 billion from $65.6 billion year over year. Interest expense rose to $800 million. A recession or a Trainium demand miss would sting. My answer: Jassy told analysts AWS capex assets carry 30-plus year useful lives for data centers and five to six years for chips, and a substantial portion already carries customer commitments. That is prepaid demand.

Why the Buy Button Stays Active The prediction market currently prices a 89% probability that 2026 capex tops $200 billion and a 94% probability Amazon beats Q2 earnings on July 30. History rhymes on this stock: fear the spending, miss the compounding. I am not making that mistake a fourth time.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Amazon didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Amazon (AMZN -0.16%) CEO Andy Jassy created a stir earlier this year when he announced that Amazon would spend $200 billion building out for artificial intelligence (AI).

As the AI landscape continues to change quickly, the market has been concerned about the cloud giants' ability to ever recoup their spend, and Amazon stock plunged after the announcement. It has since gained back some of its losses, but it's roughly flat year to date, well behind the S&P 500 and many of its peers.

Now, investors are gearing up to hear Amazon's latest update when it reports second-quarter earnings on July 30, and I think they are in for some good news.

The first-mover advantage in AI Amazon believes it has a vast opportunity in AI, but it has to invest to harness it. It has a first-mover advantage, since it's the largest cloud company in the world, but other robust AI companies, like Alphabet and Microsoft, are nipping at its heels. To retain its dominance and offer the most to its shareholders, it needs to provide the most competitive slate of AI features and tools.

The company's first-quarter results, which demonstrated how well the AI build-out is going, got a warm reception from the market.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Image source: Amazon.

It's hard to argue with the results. In total, revenue increased 17% year over year, and Amazon is the largest company in the world by sales, making that an impressive feat. Earnings per share were up from $1.59 last year to $2.78 this year, and both metrics trounced Wall Street's expectations. But the smaller details give over the narrative, and they were chock-full of positive updates.

Customer spending on Amazon's signature AI platform Bedrock increased 170% quarter over quarter, and it processed more tokens in Q1 2026 than in previous years combined. The chips business increased 40% sequentially and by triple digits year over year. As a stand-alone business, it would have $50 billion in sales, and it's one of the three largest data center chip businesses in the world.

Where is all this $200 billion going? Momentum is building as Amazon tries to meet unceasing demand. Jassy said that there's a $364 billion backlog as of the end of Q1, and that didn't include a $100 billion deal with Anthropic.

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To meet the demand, Amazon has to lay out the cash. Some of the things it's spending on include land, power, chips, networking infrastructure, and more, and it's ready to bill clients about six to 12 months after investment. "We have high confidence this will be monetized well," Jassy said, "as we already have customer commitments for a substantial portion of it, and that it will yield compelling operating margins and [return on invested capital] ROIC."

Since the market already knows more or less what Amazon spent in Q2 based on full-year guidance and has already priced it into the stock, capex spend in the quarter isn't likely to make an impression, unless management raises it. Otherwise, if it provides the same kind of growth that it did in Q1, the market should view the update positively.

© Monster Ztudio / Shutterstock.com

I keep buying Amazon, and my brokerage confirmation emails have started to feel like a subscription. Every time the stock drifts into the mid-$240s, I click again. The current price of $247.55 versus a Wall Street path toward $400 next year is the kind of setup I have waited years to see on a business this dominant.

The thesis is simple. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) is being priced like an infrastructure-heavy spender at exactly the moment its infrastructure spend is about to convert into a monetization engine. Analysts view $400 as realistic because it prices Amazon at the finish line of its AI investment J-curve, re-rating the business from an infrastructure-heavy spender into the dominant cash-generating compute utility of the agentic era. I am buying that transition.

The Receipts Behind My Conviction Start with AWS. Q1 2026 AWS revenue hit $37.6 billion, up 28% year over year, the fastest growth in 15 quarters, at a 37.7% operating margin. The Q1 backlog reached $364 billion, and Trainium alone carries over $225 billion in revenue commitments. That is signed paper.

Second, earnings power is already showing up. Q1 reported EPS of $2.78 versus the $1.653 estimate, a 68.18% beat, with operating income of $23.852 billion up 29.6% and company-wide operating margin at 13.1%, the highest ever. That is the tenth straight beat in an eleven-quarter run with zero misses. Management delivers.

Third, valuation leaves room. Forward P/E sits at 29, with a PEG of 1.297 and analyst target of $312.87 against 15 Strong Buys and 47 Buys versus zero Sells. Forward EPS of $10.24 plus the $12.50 to $13.50 GAAP EPS runway analysts model as capex flattens is how a 30x forward multiple gets you to $400.

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Why Not Microsoft, Alphabet, or Walmart I own the alternatives too, but not with the same appetite. Microsoft and Alphabet run comparable cloud franchises, yet neither matches Amazon’s silicon economics. Jassy said Trainium will save Amazon tens of billions of dollars of capex each year and provide several hundred basis points of operating margin advantage versus relying on other chips for inference, with nearly 80% of Bedrock inference already running on Trainium. Walmart is a fine retailer, but it does not own a $150 billion annualized cloud, a $70 billion TTM ad business growing 24%, or a satellite constellation. Amazon’s return on equity of 24.3% is doing work three different companies would envy.

The Risk I Cannot Wave Away Free cash flow is the real problem. TTM free cash flow collapsed 95% to $1.2 billion after a $59.3 billion year-over-year jump in property and equipment spending, with long-term debt climbing to $119.1 billion from $65.6 billion. Jassy is guiding roughly $200 billion in 2026 capex. If the AI demand curve stalls, that spend becomes a stranded asset problem.

What keeps me buying anyway is that Jassy said the company has high confidence the AWS capex will be monetized well because they already have customer commitments for a substantial portion of it. Signed backlog is funding the buildout.

Why the Buy Button Stays Active The setup I keep coming back to is this. As capex growth flattens into 2027, free cash flow is positioned for a snap-back toward $70 to $80 billion, shifting investor focus from near-term cash dilution to structural monetization. I would rather own the compounder while the market is arguing about the capex bill than pay up after the free cash flow arrives. That is why the confirmation emails keep coming.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Amazon didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 589,634 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,776 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.0% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $218,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Midwest Trust Co increased its holdings in Microsoft by 5.3% in the first quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 779,476 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,539,000 after buying an additional 39,281 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 59.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,576,422 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,694,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,110 shares in the last quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 32,102 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 59,112 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,105,000 after acquiring an additional 11,105 shares during the period. Finally, Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $555.40.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Price Performance NASDAQ MSFT opened at $381.70 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $398.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $407.62. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft RTX and Lockheed Earnings: Can Strong Guidance Reset the Defense Trade? These 4 Earnings Reports Expose the Market’s Growing Economic Divide Broadcom May Be the Biggest Winner From Alphabet’s Earnings Volatility Is Back and These 3 Market Tollbooths Are Best Positioned to Profit

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I keep hitting the buy button on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction), and I am adding again before the fiscal Q4 report drops after the close on July 29. My horizon is 12 to 36 months. My reason is one sentence: I am locking in more shares of a high-margin enterprise monopoly at a compressed valuation multiple, and the market has handed me the discount.

The stock trades at $381.70, down 20.72% year to date and 24.69% over the past year. The business remained strong. The multiple compressed.

Three Reasons My Conviction Holds Start with the cloud and AI engine. Last quarter, Azure and other cloud services grew 40%. Microsoft Cloud revenue crossed $54.5 billion in a single quarter, up 29%. The AI business alone crossed a $37 billion annual run rate. Satya Nadella put a number on it: “Our AI business surpassed an annual revenue run rate of $37 billion, up 123% year-over-year.”

Then the backlog. Commercial remaining performance obligations reached $627 billion, up 99% year over year. That is signed enterprise demand queued up for future delivery. The pipeline is contracted.

Then the quality of the earnings behind it. Operating margin ran at 45.62%, net margin at 36.15%, and return on equity at 33.28%. Debt to equity sits at 0.176 with interest coverage of 53.89. Forward P/E is 20, trailing 23, on a business compounding revenue 18.3% year over year. That is the compressed multiple I keep pointing to.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Microsoft didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Why Not Amazon or Alphabet The two names a reader would reach for first are Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL). My money keeps going to Microsoft first for one reason I can measure: the $627 billion contracted backlog anchored by Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, GitHub, LinkedIn, and Copilot sitting on nearly every enterprise desktop already. Azure at 40% growth paired with a 45.62% operating margin is the combination I have not been able to replicate elsewhere.

The Risk I Will Not Wave Away Capex hit $30.88 billion last quarter, up 84.39% year over year. If AI monetization slows before this infrastructure is depreciated, free cash flow gets squeezed. Reddit is chewing on this openly. One thread put it directly: “MSFT earnings on July 29 and I genuinely can’t tell if the CapEx is the story or the problem.” Fair question. My answer: a $627 billion signed backlog and an AI run rate growing 123% are the enterprise customers writing checks against that capex right now. The risk is real. The thesis does not break unless those two numbers break.

What Keeps the Buy Button Active Operating cash flow last quarter was $46.68 billion, up 26.01%. Microsoft returned $12.7 billion to shareholders in a single quarter earlier this year through dividends and buybacks. The dividend yields 0.85%, small but funded by one of the strongest cash machines in the market. Analysts carry 54 buy ratings, 3 holds, and zero sells. I buy for the cash flow underneath the price targets, and every quarter Microsoft keeps compounding it, my next lot gets easier to justify.

I am adding this week, and I will keep adding until the multiple stops being kind.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Microsoft didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Four of the largest public companies in the world report quarterly financial results this week, reports that could have a big impact on several sectors and market indexes. Here’s a look at the Magnificent Seven stocks reporting this week and what investors should expect.

The reports this week are:

"Investors look for confirmation that massive AI investments are translating into stronger revenue growth, expanding margins, and sustained demand across cloud, advertising, devices, and e-commerce," Freedom Capital Markets Chief Market Strategist Jay Woods said of the four Magnificent Seven earnings reports in a weekly newsletter.

Woods said the company’s outlooks will be key to justify lofty valuations heading into the second half of 2026.

The market expert highlights that this will be the last quarterly report for Apple under CEO Tim Cook.

ETFs to WatchThe four earnings reports could put pressure on several market indexes and the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track them.

In the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY), the four stocks make up 18%, with the following weightings:

Apple: 7.8%, second largest holding Microsoft: 4.5%, third largest holding Amazon.com: 3.6%, fourth largest holding Meta: 2.1%, eighth largest holding In the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), the four stocks make up 19.9% of assets, with Apple the second largest holding at 8.1% and all four being top 10 components.

Three of the four stocks are also members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The three stocks in the index make up the following holdings in the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA):

Microsoft: 4.4%, fifth largest holding Apple: 3.8%, ninth largest holding Amazon.com: 2.7%, 17th largest holding The earnings reports this week could make those indexes and ETFs volatile, along with sectors like technology, semiconductors, ecommerce, social media, telecommunications, and more.

What Earnings History Says, Key Items to WatchMicrosoft: Analysts are expecting the company to report revenue of $87.61 billion and earnings per share of $4.23, up from $76.44 billion and $3.65 year-over-year. The company has beaten analyst estimates for revenue in 13 straight quarters and for earnings per share in 15 straight quarters. Investors will be looking for growth in customer spending for AI and cloud products, along with commentary on capex spending going forward.

Stock Price ActionHere’s a look at the current stock prices and performances for year-to-date in 2026 and over the last 52 weeks.

Meta: $603.22, YTD -7.4%, 1-Year -16.0% Microsoft: $390.65, YTD -17.4%, 1-Year -23.8% Amazon.com: $234.72, YTD +3.6%, 1-Year +0.8% Apple: $335.63, YTD +23.8%, 1-Year +56.7% Image via Shutterstock

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New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - July 27, 2026) - Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized investor-rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and certain of its officers.

This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Microsoft securities between May 1, 2025 and January 28, 2026, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: bgandg.com/MSFT.

Microsoft Case Details

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements because they failed to disclose that:

Microsoft's Copilot family of products had experienced significant brand positioning, user experience, usage, data siloing, computational capacity, organizational, and interoperability problems; Microsoft's flagship proprietary AI model ranked well below competitors on a number of benchmark tests; Microsoft needed to increase by billions of dollars its capital expenditures and divert graphics processing unit ("GPU") and central processing unit ("CPU") capacity away from fulfilling demand for its profitable Azure services in order to improve the competitive positioning of its critical Copilot family of products and increase its AI-related research and development ("R&D"); and as a result of the above, Microsoft had failed to convert a significant percentage of its commercial Microsoft 365 users to paid Copilot subscriptions and Microsoft's Copilot offerings had lost market share to rival products, a trend that was increasing.What's Next for Microsoft Investors?

A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm's site: bgandg.com/MSFT, or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Client Relations Manager, Nathan Miller, of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 917-590-0911. If you suffered a loss in Microsoft you have until August 11, 2026, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff.

No Cost to Microsoft Investors

We, Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC, represent investors in class actions on a contingency fee basis. That means we will ask the court to reimburse us for out-of-pocket expenses and attorneys' fees, usually a percentage of the total recovery, only if we are successful.

Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC for Microsoft Securities Class Action?

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide. More at www.bgandg.com

"Our practice centers on restoring investor capital and ensuring corporate accountability, which serves to uphold the essential integrity of the marketplace," said Peretz Bronstein, Founding Partner of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/301534

Source: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC

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As some executives fret over the safety of new A.I. systems, protecting against them could be a big business for tech companies.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 27th, 2026

Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD – Free Report) by 10.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,434 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,207 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Advanced Micro Devices were worth $10,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMD. Joseph Group Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Advanced Micro Devices during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in Advanced Micro Devices in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in Advanced Micro Devices in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Advanced Micro Devices during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in Advanced Micro Devices during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush raised their price objective on Advanced Micro Devices from $290.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Needham & Company LLC raised Advanced Micro Devices to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Advanced Micro Devices from $450.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Advanced Micro Devices from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Advanced Micro Devices in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Advanced Micro Devices has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $522.43.

View Our Latest Analysis on AMD

Trending Headlines about Advanced Micro Devices Here are the key news stories impacting Advanced Micro Devices this week:

Positive Sentiment: AMD and Cerebras announced a technical partnership to combine Helios and Wafer-Scale Engine technology, aiming for faster, more efficient AI inference and up to 5x higher tokens per second per watt. AMD and Cerebras Announce Industry-Leading Ultra-Low-Latency and High Throughput AI Inference Solution Positive Sentiment: Wedbush raised its price target to $600, and several other firms also boosted targets after AMD’s Advancing AI 2026 event, signaling stronger Wall Street confidence in AMD’s AI data center growth. AMD price target boosted on strengthening AI outlook Positive Sentiment: Other commentary highlighted AMD’s new Helios AI rack system, expanded OpenAI and Anthropic-related demand, and multiple bullish analyst notes, all of which support the view that AMD is gaining share in AI infrastructure. AMD plans to invest to up $5 billion into Anthropic as it seeks to cut into Nvidia’s dominance Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful change in practice, with reported short interest listed as zero shares, so this item does not appear to be a real trading catalyst. Neutral Sentiment: The broader semiconductor sector pulled back on valuation and profit-taking concerns, which may be weighing on AMD even as company-specific AI news remains constructive. Semiconductor Crossroads: Healthy Consolidation or Deeper Repricing? Negative Sentiment: AMD also appeared in reports about an AI-chip selloff and weaker risk appetite, suggesting some investors are taking profits after the stock’s strong run. AI Memory Stocks Lead Chip Selloff Advanced Micro Devices Stock Performance Shares of Advanced Micro Devices stock opened at $521.95 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $851.09 billion, a PE ratio of 171.13 and a beta of 2.47. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.22 and a 1 year high of $584.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $512.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $341.53.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.08. Advanced Micro Devices had a net margin of 13.37% and a return on equity of 9.55%. The company had revenue of $10.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 37.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. will post 6.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Advanced Micro Devices In other news, EVP Mark D. Papermaster sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.33, for a total transaction of $3,217,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 1,233,687 shares in the company, valued at $661,663,348.71. This trade represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Paul Darren Grasby sold 24,376 shares of Advanced Micro Devices stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.39, for a total transaction of $10,832,450.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 105,222 shares in the company, valued at $46,759,604.58. This trade represents a 18.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 310,310 shares of company stock valued at $141,185,456. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

About Advanced Micro Devices (Free Report)

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (NASDAQ: AMD) is a global semiconductor company that designs and sells microprocessors, graphics processors, chipsets and adaptive computing solutions for a broad set of markets. The company’s product portfolio includes consumer and commercial CPUs under the Ryzen and Threadripper brands, data center processors under the EPYC brand, and Radeon graphics processing units for gaming and professional visualization. AMD also offers semi-custom system-on-chip (SoC) products for gaming consoles and other specialized applications, and provides supporting software and platform technologies for OEMs, cloud service providers and end users.

Founded in 1969, AMD has evolved from a supplier of logic chips into a diversified, fabless semiconductor designer.

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Advanced Micro Devices RTX and Lockheed Earnings: Can Strong Guidance Reset the Defense Trade? These 4 Earnings Reports Expose the Market’s Growing Economic Divide Broadcom May Be the Biggest Winner From Alphabet’s Earnings Volatility Is Back and These 3 Market Tollbooths Are Best Positioned to Profit Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD – Free Report).

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Advanced Micro Devices Today

AMD

Advanced Micro Devices

$487.31 -34.64 (-6.64%)

As of 12:41 PM Eastern

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

52-Week Range$149.22▼

$584.73P/E Ratio158.47

Price Target$527.84

Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ: AMD is in the midst of a rapidly swelling AI bubble that is about to burst. However, this bubble is just the first in a series of explosive events that have this stock price on track to rocket higher in upcoming quarters. The primary driver is growth, underpinned by AI and edge computing, and the outlook continues to swell. All else aside, AMD CEO Lisa Su’s total addressable market (TAM) forecasts say it all. Well-known for conservative estimates and periodic improvements, the July 2026 updates nearly doubled the outlook for CPUs, added 40% to the AI accelerator market, and doubled the total, including edge, industrial, and computing.

The robust outlook being priced into the market was affirmed, and leaves the stock at a deep, deep value. Long-term estimates suggest the stock trades at a mere 14x the 2030 earnings estimate, well below the S&P 500 average, setting the stage for at least 50% upside over the coming quarter. The critical detail, however, is that long-term estimates are likely to be low, and more significant gains are likely over time—Advanced Micro Devices is pivoting into an AI-critical infrastructure provider, about to unleash growth.

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Advanced Micro Devices Chart Points to 65% Upside in Back HalfAdvanced Micro Devices' stock price action is bullish ahead of its Q2 earnings release in early August. While consolidation took place in June and July, the move caps a solid rally and suggests a continuation signal in play. Signs of strength include a MACD convergence, which suggests new highs are likely.

The trigger for traders is a move to the upside, with the critical target near $570. A move to new highs confirms the existing uptrend and projections for the subsequent price movement. In this case, the target movement is worth approximately $320 to $360, equal to the rally that preceded it or about 65% upside from the breakout point, and it may be achieved within a few months.

Analysts' sentiment trends were strengthened by the TAM updates and fueled the fire in AMD’s market. The updates triggered numerous reaffirmed targets, initiated coverage, and price target increases, including a new high of $1,250. While the consensus assumes the market trades near fair value at $500, it is up nearly 250% on a trailing 12-month (TTM) basis, with the high-end $1,250 more than doubling it again.

Takeaways from the analysts' chatter are that AMD’s deal volume affirms the full-stack AI pivot, setting the company up for accelerating strength in the current and future quarters. The likely outcome, given recent deals and the upcoming MI450 launch, is that AMD continues to outperform, lift guidance, and sustain bullish analyst activity through year-end and well into the subsequent year. Until then, institutions are limiting risk. The group took profits in Q2 2026, but the impact was limited; the more pertinent details are the high-level, 71% ownership rate and Q3 accumulation. It aligns with the TTM activity, limiting downside risk for investors.

AMD’s Q2 Results Are the Catalyst: Deal Volume Points to Explosive GrowthOverall MarketRank™75th Percentile

Analyst RatingModerate Buy

Upside/Downside10.2% Upside

Short Interest LevelHealthy

Dividend StrengthN/A

News Sentiment0.86 Insider TradingSelling Shares

Proj. Earnings Growth84.37%

See Full Analysis

CPU demand should support strong Q2 results from Advanced Micro Devices, but guidance will drive the market’s reaction. Management should provide Q3 and back-half guidance, including commentary on MI450 and Helios rack sales. As it stands, analysts are modeling only incremental sequential growth, which looks disconnected from the deal pipeline.

The recently announced deal with Anthropic is estimated to be worth more than $27 billion, equal to more than 50% of the fiscal year 2026 consensus forecast, with deployments expected as soon as Q3. Other deals, such as OpenAI, Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META, and Microsoft NASDAQ: MSFT, are worth significantly more and also have deployments slated for as soon as Q3. In this scenario, AMD’s outperformance is all but assured, and it's possible for revenue to grow by triple digits sequentially as early as Q4, if not sooner.

Advanced Micro Devices Faces Execution RiskThe biggest risk facing AMD is execution. With so much expectation built into the market, strong results could have little impact, and delays could spark price corrections. However, the company has invested in its stack and supply chain for years, working to secure capacity while building different technology than its competitors. Crucial differences include manufacturing cost and complexity, with AMD’s process yielding lower costs and fewer defects. The trade-off is that its products are better suited to inference than to training, but it isn’t such a bad deal. Inference is the far larger segment of the AI market, with potentially exponential demand compared to pure-AI training.

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

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Tesla, Nvidia, and Google helped shape the last era of market growth, but the next wave could come from a new group of companies. Inside this report, you’ll find 7 stocks that could play a major role in the next tech-driven market boom.

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Key Takeaways Citigroup posted record Q2 revenue and earnings growth, beating estimates. C is advancing its restructuring, targeting higher returns, cost savings and revenue growth through 2028.Citigroup pairs dividend growth, buybacks and a below-industry forward P/E with favorable analyst sentiment. Citigroup, Inc. (C - Free Report) delivered an impressive second-quarter performance, easily surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate, with strong growth in revenues and earnings. Other major banks, including Bank of America (BAC - Free Report) and Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) , also came out with solid quarterly results.

Citigroup generated its highest quarterly revenues of $24.76 billion in a decade, which jumped 14% year over year and topped Zacks Consensus Estimates by more than 4%. More impressively, second-quarter adjusted net income surged 45% on a year over year basis to $5.8 billion. This translated into adjusted earnings per share of $3.15, which crushed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by nearly 16% and climbed more than 60% from the prior year quarter.

Growth was broad-based across the franchise, with investment banking, markets, wealth management, services and consumer banking all contributing to the strong quarter. Citigroup also generated positive operating leverage as revenue growth significantly outpaced expense growth, highlighting that CEO Jane Fraser's multi-year restructuring efforts continue to improve the firm's operating efficiency.

C shares are also experiencing significant momentum, rising 14.4% year to date and outperforming the industry’s growth of 11.6%. Bank of America’s shares have risen 14% while Wells Fargo shares declined 6.4% over the same period.

Price Performance

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Most important for investors, significant progress in the ongoing overhaul plan and impressive earnings beat over the past four trailing quarters have prompted analysts to raise their earnings outlook, leading to favorable estimate revisions. Notably, for 2026 and 2027, earnings estimates rose 3.1% and 2.5%, respectively, in the last 30 days, respectively.

Estimate Revision Trend

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Citigroup is expected to post 40.8% year-over-year earnings growth this year, followed by a 15% rise in 2027.

Following the blockbuster second-quarter report, a sharp run-up in share price and upward estimate trend, does Citigroup’s stock still offers meaningful upside or if much of the optimism is already reflected in the stock price? To answer this, let us delve deeper and assess C’s investment potential in more detail.

Citigroup’s Performance CatalystsStrategic Transformation:  Citigroup has moved closer to completing its multi-year exit from non-core international consumer banking. The sale of the Polish consumer business in June 2026 marked the final international consumer divestiture apart from remaining wind-downs of Banamex. The company also sold an additional 22.6% stake in Banamex in the second quarter after selling 25% in late 2025. The remaining Banamex deconsolidation and IPO are planned for early 2027, with management expecting the transaction to free up $5 billion in capital.

These transactions follow the completed Russia exit and divestures of consumer franchises across Asia and EMEA. The simpler structure reduces operational complexity, releases capital and allows management to direct resources toward Services, Markets, Banking, Wealth and U.S. Consumer Cards. As the remaining divestitures and wind-downs conclude, lower stranded costs and a more focused allocation of capital should support the path toward higher sustainable returns.

Backed by these initiatives, Citigroup expects revenues, excluding Legacy Franchises and reconciling items, to see a mid-single-digit CAGR from 2025 through 2028. It also aims to achieve a return on tangible common equity (ROTCE) of 10-11% by 2026. C expects to reach 11-13% RoTCE, excluding notable items in 2027 and 2028, and then move toward 14-15% RoTCE over the medium term. This outlook reflects management’s belief that C’s business model is becoming simpler, more efficient and better able to translate revenue growth into shareholder value.

Cost-Optimization Initiatives: The company continues to execute its multi-year cost optimization strategy, centered on workforce rationalization, process simplification, automation and technology investments aimed at enhancing long-term productivity and profitability.

As part of its restructuring program, the company remains on track to eliminate 20,000 positions by the end of 2026. Its total headcount declined to 219,000 as of June 30, 2026, from 230,000 a year earlier. In the first half of 2026, the bank incurred more than $800 million in severance costs, reflecting upfront investments to achieve sustainable operating efficiencies.

Beyond workforce optimization, management is driving efficiency through process simplification, platform consolidation and increased automation, reducing manual touchpoints across operations. At the same time, the company continues to invest in technology and artificial intelligence to strengthen operational resilience, improve productivity and support future revenue growth. To accelerate these initiatives, Citigroup plans to invest an incremental $5 billion between 2026 and 2028, with spending focused on technology modernization, marketing, front-office talent and branch renovations.

Management expects workforce optimization, organizational simplification and technology investments to generate $2-$2.5 billion of annualized cost savings by 2026. The company continues to target a full-year efficiency ratio of 60%. While a portion of these savings will enhance profitability, management intends to reinvest part of the benefits into technology, talent and strategic growth initiatives to support sustainable long-term returns.

Interest Rate Outlook Remains Supportive:  NII has been a key contributor to Citigroup’s earnings power and management expects growth to continue amid a shifting rate environment. NII witnessed a three-year CAGR of 6.2% (ended 2025). The uptrend continued in the first half of 2026. Also, the company has been witnessing solid growth in loans and deposit balances.

Though the Federal Reserve is expected to hike the interest rates later this year, Citigroup’s NII will continue to grow, given stabilizing funding/deposit costs and solid loan demand. Management expects NII, excluding Markets, to increase 5-6% in 2026, supported by loan growth and stabilizing funding dynamics.

Liquidity Strength Powers Shareholder Payouts: C enjoys a strong liquidity position. As of June 30, 2026, Citigroup’s cash and due from banks and total investments aggregated to $449.4 billion, lower than its total debt (short-term and long-term borrowing) of $373.3 billion. 

Post-clearing the 2026 stress test, the company hiked its dividend 11.7% to 67 cents per share. In the past five years, it has raised its dividends four times. By comparison, Wells Fargo and Bank of America have raised their dividends six and five times, respectively, during the past five years. 

Coming back to Citigroup, it maintains a modest payout ratio of 23%, indicating adequate scope to sustain distributions. The company’s annual dividend yield of 1.82% is higher than the industry average, providing investors with a steady income stream while management continues to execute its turnaround strategy.

Citigroup has also remained active in repurchasing shares. The board authorized a $30-billion buyback commitment in June 2026, with no expiry date.  

Including dividends, C’s total return over the past three years has been nearly 208% compared with the industry’s average of 136.9%. Thus, the combination of potential capital appreciation, dependable dividend income and continued share repurchases enhances the stock’s total-return prospects. Supported by Citigroup’s robust liquidity and capital levels, its shareholder payout activities appear sustainable.

Total Return Performance

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Final View on CitigroupC’s multi-year transformation is beginning to translate into a stronger earnings profile. The bank’s divestitures, expense-control measures, AI-driven productivity initiatives and increasing focus on higher-return businesses should support revenue growth, operating efficiency and profitability over time. Its solid liquidity position, dividend growth and planned share repurchase further strengthen the investment case.

Wall Street sentiment also remains favorable. Citigroup has an average brokerage recommendation of 1.76 on a scale of 1 to 5, wherein 1 represents Strong Buy and 5 represents Strong Sell. Of the 25 brokerage recommendations, 15 are Strong Buy and three are Buy, representing 60% and 12% of the total, respectively. Check price target & stock forecast for Citigroup here>>>

Brokerage Rating Breakdown for C

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Valuation remains another key positive. Citigroup trades at a forward P/E multiple of 10.86X, below the industry average of 14.06X and its peers Bank of America and Wells Fargo’s multiples of 12.44X and 11.32X, respectively. Citigroup’s discounted valuation despite a sharp increase in share price indicates that the market is still pricing in relatively cautious expectations for its long-term earnings potential.

Price-to-Earnings F12M

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This leaves scope for further upside. If management continues to improve returns, control costs and narrow the profitability gap with peers, Citigroup could benefit from both earnings growth and valuation-multiple expansion.

As such, supported by improving fundamentals, disciplined capital returns and favorable analyst sentiment, Citigroup offers an attractive combination of value and growth potential.

Citigroup currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

“Follow the bottlenecks,” Rhind told Benzinga in an exclusive email interview.

According to Rhind, the biggest investment opportunities are shifting from AI processors themselves to the technologies that connect, manufacture and support them.

Networking And Custom Silicon Take Center StageAfter GPUs and memory, Rhind sees networking infrastructure as one of the next critical constraints for AI data centers.

“After the GPU and the memory, the next winners are the companies solving how you connect and power all of it,” he said.

That points directly to Broadcom and Marvell, whose networking chips, custom silicon and high-speed interconnect technologies have become increasingly important as hyperscalers race to build larger AI clusters.

Both companies have already benefited from growing demand for custom AI accelerators and networking equipment, but Rhind believes the structural tailwinds remain intact as AI deployments continue to scale.

TSMC Sits Beneath The Entire AI Supply ChainRather than betting on a single AI chip designer, TSMC offers exposure to the broader expansion of AI silicon production. “It’s underneath everyone,” Rhind said.

As more companies develop custom AI processors, TSMC stands to benefit regardless of which chip designer ultimately captures the largest share of the market.

The Next AI Constraint May Not Be ChipsRhind also argued investors should look beyond semiconductors altogether.

“The one people still sleep on is power,” he said. “Data centers are running into electricity limits, so the electrical and cooling infrastructure companies are turning into an AI trade in their own right.”

His comments echo a growing theme across the AI industry: while Nvidia’s GPUs remain essential, future growth increasingly depends on everything surrounding them—from networking and advanced chip manufacturing to electricity and cooling infrastructure.

For investors, that could mark the next chapter of the AI trade. As spending spreads across the broader ecosystem, companies enabling AI infrastructure may emerge as the market’s next generation of winners after Nvidia and SK Hynix.

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Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Nvidia NVDA shares fell around 3% early Monday as investors assessed a series of artificial intelligence infrastructure deals involving OpenAI and SK Hynix.

The stock traded around $198.86 after declining 0.9% in the previous session.

Other semiconductor stocks also traded lower, with AMD down about 4% and Intel falling roughly 2%.

Investor attention focused on reports that Nvidia is discussing financing arrangements that could underpin more than $750 billion of artificial intelligence infrastructure investment.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Nvidia is in talks to provide roughly $250 billion in financing guarantees to OpenAI to support the lease of a 10-gigawatt data centre being developed by SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy in southern Ohio.

The report said the guarantee would help reassure lenders financing the project, which is expected to cost more than $500 billion in total.

Nvidia is also reportedly discussing financing up to $350 billion of OpenAI's future chip purchases for the project.

The arrangement would allow OpenAI to begin controlling more of its own computing infrastructure instead of relying on cloud providers, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle, while securing long-term demand for Nvidia's processors.

Separately, Nvidia announced an artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative with the parent company of South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix that it said is worth more than $500 billion.

The growing scale of Nvidia's financing initiatives has renewed debate over whether the company is helping create demand for its own products.

Critics have argued that Nvidia's investments, financing arrangements, and equity stakes in AI companies may artificially support demand for its chips and inflate valuations across the sector.

Concerns centre on whether financing-backed infrastructure projects could create distorted incentives or amplify risks if demand for artificial intelligence services ultimately falls short of expectations.

BofA remains bullish on Nvidia stockDespite those concerns, Bank of America Securities reiterated its Buy rating and $350 price target on Nvidia.

The firm said Nvidia's support for both open-source AI models and proprietary developers such as OpenAI reflects a strategy aimed at maximising demand across the broader AI ecosystem.

According to Bank of America, open-source models encourage adoption among enterprises, sovereign customers, and startups, while OpenAI remains one of the largest consumers of AI infrastructure.

The firm said the combination should accelerate graphics processing unit demand and expand Nvidia's ecosystem, although investors are increasingly questioning how much industry spending is being driven by underlying demand versus financing support.

Bank of America also noted that frontier AI laboratories account for about 20% of Nvidia's data centre revenue, with the remaining sales coming from a broader customer base.

The firm identified the principal bear case as the potential for financing-assisted demand to compress Nvidia's valuation multiple as investors reassess the sustainability of AI spending.

Nvidia has recently begun to narrow its performance gap with the broader semiconductor sector.

The stock is up about 3% in July while the PHLX Semiconductor Index has fallen 17%.

Nvidia is in talks to provide roughly $250 billion in financing guarantees for OpenAI as part of one of the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure projects ever planned, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

While analysts see the move as reinforcing confidence that the AI infrastructure boom has years to run, they also say it is likely to fuel debate over whether the sector's extraordinary spending is increasingly being driven by creative financing rather than customer balance sheets.

The proposed financing support would help OpenAI secure a lease for a 10-gigawatt data centre project being developed by SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy in southern Ohio.

The facility is expected to cost more than $500 billion, including the computing hardware required to operate it.

For OpenAI, the project represents an opportunity to build dedicated computing infrastructure instead of relying primarily on cloud services provided by Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle.

The ChatGPT developer has rapidly expanded its computing needs as demand for generative AI services continues to grow.

However, despite being valued at approximately $852 billion, OpenAI remains unprofitable, raising questions over how it will finance the enormous infrastructure commitments required to support future AI development.

According to the report, Nvidia's proposed $250 billion guarantee would cover the lease for the Ohio facility as well as associated debt financing.

The guarantee would not include Nvidia chips installed inside the data centre.

The Journal also reported that Nvidia is separately discussing financing OpenAI's purchases of AI chips worth up to $350 billion.

The financing support would provide reassurance to lenders involved in the project by backing funding vehicles created to finance the massive development.

The first phase of the Ohio facility is expected to become operational in 2028 with around 800 megawatts of power capacity.

The southern Ohio campus is expected to become one of the world's largest AI data centres once completed.

The Information previously reported that the development would be built across federal and privately owned land.

Power for the project will reportedly come from infrastructure controlled by the US government and financed separately through Japan under a recent bilateral trade agreement tied to Tokyo's commitment to invest $33 billion in a natural gas power plant.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is said to be involved in determining access to the project's electricity supply.

OpenAI is reportedly among the most advanced bidders for the site, although Anthropic, Microsoft and Google have also held discussions regarding the facility.

For Nvidia, the financing discussions would serve another strategic purpose by helping guarantee long-term demand for its AI processors.

The company already dominates the market for graphics processing units used to train and operate advanced AI models.

Supporting financing for massive computing projects could further strengthen that position by ensuring customers continue expanding their infrastructure.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Anurag Rana said the reported discussions suggest Nvidia remains confident that demand for AI computing capacity will continue growing.

"Nvidia's talks to provide a roughly $250 billion financing backstop for an OpenAI data-center lease, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, look constructive for CoreWeave, Crusoe Energy and other neoclouds," Rana said.

"The structure suggests Nvidia is prepared to support larger AI infrastructure build-outs, easing concern that capacity demand is fading or that funding markets won't absorb the next wave of projects."

The reported discussions come as major technology companies continue committing unprecedented amounts of capital to AI infrastructure.

Industry-wide spending on AI data centres, chips and related infrastructure is expected to exceed $700 billion this year as companies race to secure computing capacity.

Earlier this month, Alphabet raised its own capital expenditure guidance for 2026, while Microsoft, Amazon and Meta are also expected to announce further increases in AI-related spending during the current earnings season.

The growing investment wave has prompted concerns among some investors about how much of the industry's spending is being supported through increasingly sophisticated financing arrangements rather than operating cash flow alone.

Analysts remain optimistic despite financing concernsBofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating on Nvidia with a $350 price target following reports of the OpenAI discussions.

The brokerage said Nvidia's strategy of supporting both proprietary AI developers such as OpenAI and open-source AI initiatives broadens the long-term market for its processors.

According to BofA, OpenAI remains one of the largest consumers of AI computing infrastructure, while open-source models encourage adoption among enterprises, sovereign AI initiatives and start-ups.

The firm said this combination should continue driving demand for Nvidia's chips.

However, it also acknowledged that investors may increasingly question how much AI infrastructure spending is being supported by financing arrangements.

Frontier AI laboratories account for roughly 20% of Nvidia's data centre revenue, according to BofA, with the remaining sales generated from a much broader customer base.

The brokerage said sceptics argue that financing-assisted demand could compress valuation multiples, pointing to Nvidia's forward price-to-earnings multiple below 20 times and a price/earnings-to-growth ratio of roughly 0.5.

Supporters, however, contend that improved access to financing, electricity and infrastructure simply extends the AI investment cycle beyond what customers could fund independently.

Some prominent investors have questioned the growing web of financial relationships connecting Nvidia, OpenAI, CoreWeave and other AI infrastructure providers.

Investor Michael Burry and technology commentator Ed Zitron both raised concerns over the weekend that such arrangements resemble interconnected financing structures that could attract greater scrutiny.

Rana believes the next major test will come as more technology companies report quarterly results.

"Alphabet's capex increase last week pointed to sustained hyperscaler spending, and similar signals from Microsoft, Amazon and Meta would reinforce our view that high-end AI computing remains supply-constrained," he said.

He added that investors will also watch whether Google expands similar credit-support arrangements after previously backing cloud provider Fluidstack, which could further lower financing costs across the AI infrastructure sector.

The company is continuing to back A.I. systems that can be freely used by others amid a continuing debate over the use of Chinese-made technology.