Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

The Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Components industry participants are benefiting from the ongoing automation drive and increased spending by manufacturers of semiconductors, automobiles, machinery and mobile phones. Industry participants like nVent Electric (NVT - Free Report) , Forgent Power Solutions (FPS - Free Report) and Vicor (VICR - Free Report) are well-poised to benefit from the solid adoption of AI and the democratization of IoT, which are transforming robotics, industrial automation, transportation systems, retail and healthcare. However, a challenging global macroeconomic environment, end-market volatility and higher tariffs are headwinds. Export restrictions imposed by the United States, as well as China, are a major headwind. Growing geopolitical tensions and foreign currency headwinds are taking a toll on the industry players. 

Industry Description The Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Components industry primarily comprises companies providing various accessories and parts used in electronic products. The industry participants’ offerings include power control and sensor technologies to mitigate equipment damage, testing products for safety and advanced medical solutions. They cater to varied end markets, such as telecommunications, automotive electronics, medical devices, industrial, transportation, energy harvesting, defense and aerospace electronic systems and consumer electronics. Customers in this industry are mainly original equipment manufacturers, independent electronic component distributors and electronic manufacturing service providers.

3 Trends Shaping the Future of Electronics - Miscellaneous Components Industry Automation Boom a Tailwind: The requirement for faster, more powerful and energy-efficient electronics leads to increased automation. Control systems, such as computers, and robots and information technologies for handling different processes and machinery, are driving the industry. The growing installation of collaborative robots, which add efficiency to production processes by working with production workers, will benefit industry participants. IoT-supported factory automation solutions are other contributing factors. The evolution of smart cars and autonomous vehicles is expected to drive growth for the industry.

Miniaturization Remains a Key Lever: Industry participants are benefiting from the ongoing transition in semiconductor manufacturing technology. Demand for advanced packaging, enabling the miniaturization of electronic products, remains strong. The consistent shift to smaller dimensions, the rapid adoption of device architectures like FinFET transistors and 3D-NAND, and the increasing utilization of new manufacturing materials to increase transistor and bit density are driving the demand for solutions provided by industry players.

Geopolitical Tensions Are Worrisome: Tariffs and the souring relationship between the United States and China are headwinds. Increasing dependency on AI-backed electronic devices on semiconductors and current restrictions ordered by the United States on trading with China, which remains the main hub for chip production, are significant negatives for the industry.

Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Bullish Prospects The Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Components industry is housed within the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #60, which places it in the top 24% of more than 250 Zacks industries.

The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates bullish near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than two to one.

Given the bullish prospects, there are a number of stocks that investors can choose to pick for a healthy portfolio. However, before we present the stocks, let us look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and the valuation picture.

Industry Lags S&P 500 and Sector The Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Components industry has underperformed the Zacks S&P 500 composite and the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector in the past year.

The industry has appreciated 0.7% over this period compared with the S&P 500’s return of 20.9% and the broader sector’s 30.6%.

One-Year Price Performance

Industry's Current Valuation Based on the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E), a commonly used multiple for valuing electronics – miscellaneous components stocks, the industry is currently trading at 24.94X compared with the S&P 500’s 20.85X and the sector’s 23.95X.

In the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 28.51X and as low as 20.27X, with a median of 21.97X, depicted in the charts below.

Forward 12-Month Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio

3 Electronics - Miscellaneous Components Stocks to Buy nVent Electric: This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company benefits from durable infrastructure demand as AI-driven data center buildouts and grid upgrades lift orders, backlog and revenue visibility. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

nVent remains well positioned to benefit from the accelerating AI infrastructure build-out, with management highlighting strong demand across both white-space and gray-space data center applications. Investments in liquid cooling, engineered building solutions and expanded manufacturing capacity, including the new Blaine facility, are expected to support sustained growth. The company also sees long-term opportunities from power grid modernization, electrification and utility infrastructure spending.

nVent shares have returned 57.6% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVT’s 2026 earnings has been revised upward by a penny to $4.56 per share over the past 30 days.

Price and Consensus: NVT

Forgent Power Solutions: This Zacks Rank #1 company continues to benefit from exceptionally strong demand across AI data centers and grid infrastructure, with record bookings, a 2.3 times book-to-bill ratio and nearly $2 billion of backlog providing excellent revenue visibility.

Forgent’s integrated Powertrain Solutions strategy, engineering-led customer engagement and vertically integrated manufacturing model are helping it gain market share and win large multi-product contracts. The company also expects margin expansion and stronger free cash flow as new production facilities ramp and utilization improves through fiscal 2027.

Forgent shares have returned 39% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FPS’ 2026 earnings has been revised upward by a penny to 68 cents per share over the past 30 days.

Price and Consensus: FPS

Vicor: This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company’s long-term outlook is increasingly tied to AI infrastructure, where its second-generation Vertical Power Delivery (VPD) technology addresses growing power density requirements for hyperscalers and advanced computing systems.

Vicor expects strong Advanced Products growth, expanding licensing revenues, increasing backlog and continued capacity expansion to support higher product shipments. The company also sees significant opportunities from aerospace, industrial and defense markets, while future licensing agreements with OEMs and hyperscalers could become an additional high-margin growth driver.

Vicor shares have jumped 95.9% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2026 earnings has increased 8.5% to $2.94 per share in the past 30 days.

Price and Consensus: VICR

When it comes to analyst price targets for Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -5.30%), you're going to find a wide range. At the high end of the spectrum is Raymond James, which placed a whopping $800 target on the stock. Morningstar, meanwhile, has said the fair value for the stock is closer to $62.

In my opinion, the stock is much more likely to trade closer to Morningstar's fair valuation by year-end. This is largely based on the early valuation Elon Musk's other company, Tesla, traded at in the early years after its IPO.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Selling pressure likely to mount After a hot start, SpaceX's stock has been in free fall, trading below its $135 IPO price. This is before any of the numerous lock-up expirations set to hit later this year have even started. With a deluge of shares expected to exponentially increase the amount of SpaceX stock available on the open market, this is a headwind the stock will have to contend with for most of the rest of 2026 and into 2027.

Now, strong results and a reasonable valuation could certainly overcome a flood of new shares hitting the market, but SpaceX's valuation is still in the stars. Even after its pullback, the stock still has a market cap of around $1.7 trillion for a company that generated less than $19 billion in revenue in 2025.

And while analysts expect rapid revenue growth this year (Morgan Stanley, for example, projects it will hit $45 billion), that's still an extreme valuation for a company set to continue losing money and burning cash. In fact, Morgan Stanley, which is bullish on the stock, doesn't think it will turn free cash flow positive until 2035. That means the company is going to have to raise a lot of cash, through equity or debt offerings, to fund what is a high-capital-expenditure (capex) business.

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A lot of SpaceX's valuation is based on future promises and predictions from founder and CEO Elon Musk, and his faithful following should help cushion the stock's downside, despite his spotty record with on-time predictions. However, that is largely why I think the stock will go into the $60s, not below that level.

A 10 times price-to-sales (P/S) multiple on $45 billion in revenue gets you to a market cap of $450 billion, which is about a $34 to $35 stock price. However, a high capex business also probably shouldn't be trading at a multiple of sales to begin with, so I don't think that is the best way to value the stock anyway. Nonetheless, a P/S of between 15 times and 20 times, which is where Tesla traded at in its early years, gives you between a $50 to $70 stock price, which is where I think SpaceX can trade at year-end.

A 25-year dataset from First Trust Portfolios presents a sobering backdrop. The research tracks post-IPO performance from January 2001 through June 2026 and reveals a persistent pattern: most newly listed U.S. stocks underperform as time passes.

SPCX stock is treading water ahead of TSLA earnings. See the price action here.  IPO Hype Meets Historical RealityInitial enthusiasm often masks the harsh reality — within two years of listing, 59% of companies generated negative returns, with the median stock declining 10.51%. 

The trend did not stabilize in later years. After three years, the median loss widened to 14.07%, and by year four, it reached 17.13%. Losses among weaker performers were far more severe. The bottom quartile declined more than 61% after two years and over 73% after four years.

The pattern shows deterioration rather than recovery. Time, in most cases, increases the gap between IPO expectations and operational execution. Growth narratives face pressure from earnings realities, competition and capital intensity. 

SpaceX enters public markets with extraordinary visibility, but the same forces apply. High valuation multiples leave little room for operational missteps.

There is, however, an important counterbalance. While median outcomes remain negative, average returns across the dataset stayed positive: 28.89% after two years, 32.34% after three years, and 39.55% after four years. This divergence highlights a skewed distribution. A small group of outliers delivered exceptional gains, lifting the overall average despite widespread underperformance.

The SpaceX BetInvestors focusing on SpaceX are effectively making a probabilistic bet. The base rate suggests underperformance is more common than success. Yet the upside case rests on joining the narrow cohort of transformational winners. 

SpaceX has attributes that could support that thesis: dominant launch economics, expanding satellite revenue through Starlink and long-term optionality in deep space infrastructure.

Still, the burden of proof is elevated. Historical IPO data implies that narrative strength must convert into sustained financial performance within a relatively short window. Execution risk, regulatory complexity and capital demands remain central variables.

The post-IPO phase, therefore, becomes less about momentum and more about validation. SpaceX may redefine industries, but market history indicates that only a minority of companies translate early promise into enduring shareholder returns.

SPCX Stock Price Activity: SpaceX shares were down 3.05% at $119.77 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo: photo_gonzo / Shutterstock

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Apple is preparing to launch a new hardware leasing program with Klarna that could make it easier and cheaper to upgrade to the latest iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman explains why the initiative could reshape Apple's upgrade cycle, lock customers into its ecosystem, and pave the way for more expensive devices like the foldable iPhone.

Samsung has unveiled a new lineup of foldable smartphones and offered a closer look at its upcoming smart glasses, developed with Google and partners. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman explains why Samsung's latest foldables preview Apple's own plans, and why privacy could become the biggest hurdle for the next generation of AI-powered wearables.

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB)’s AI-enabled glasses could represent a new growth opportunity for the company as the wearables move toward broader consumer adoption, according to Jefferies analysts who tested multiple models and highlighted the product’s potential as a future computing interface.

The analysts wrote that Meta’s AI glasses impressed across areas including camera quality, setup experience and their traditional glasses design, noting that the company currently has a first-mover advantage as the only major player shipping AI glasses at scale. Jefferies estimated that the category could create a $14 billion to $18 billion hardware revenue opportunity over the next several years, assuming adoption levels similar to the Apple Watch and an average selling price of about $400.

Meta’s AI glasses are screen-free, voice-controlled wearables that combine cameras, open-ear audio and integration with the Meta AI application. Jefferies tested three models, including the Ray-Ban Meta Gen2 priced at $379, the Oakley Meta priced at $499 and the Ray-Ban Display with Neural Band priced at $799, and wrote that the devices integrated naturally into daily activities including sports, communication and productivity.

The analysts’ base-case scenario estimates the hardware opportunity could translate into roughly 35 million to 45 million units sold, with additional potential upside from AI subscriptions, advertising and commerce-related monetization. Jefferies highlighted Meta AI’s growing user base, noting that monthly active users have reached approximately 1 billion and daily glasses users are increasing year over year.

Jefferies wrote that the longer-term opportunity could extend beyond hardware sales if AI assistants shift toward “agentic” experiences where users delegate tasks rather than simply search for information. In that scenario, the analysts noted that AI glasses could capture user intent at the point of discovery and potentially position Meta closer to future commerce transactions.

The analysts highlighted several strengths of the products, including camera performance, easy photo capture and synchronization through the Meta AI app. They also pointed to the open-ear audio experience as a key advantage, allowing users to listen to music, handle calls and receive notifications while maintaining awareness of their surroundings. Spotify integration, the glasses’ comfortable design and their ability to combine functions typically handled by a phone camera, earbuds and action camera were also cited as benefits.

However, Jefferies noted that the technology remains in development. The analysts pointed to areas for improvement including video quality, speaker volume, voice activation reliability, battery life and the adjustment required for users to incorporate the glasses into everyday routines. They also noted that launches in some regions, including Europe, have faced delays related to supply constraints and regulatory considerations around AI, privacy and always-on cameras.

Jefferies maintained a positive view on Meta’s AI glasses opportunity, writing that the company’s early position in the category could provide a long-term growth opportunity that is not yet reflected in current expectations.

Shares of Meta traded hands at $630 on Wednesday, down about 5% so far this year.

A woman stands near a Meta logo, January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Romina Amato/ File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

CompaniesJuly 22 (Reuters) - A Florida teen ​whose lawsuit claimed Meta’s (META.O), opens new tab platforms were to blame ‌for his depression and anxiety dropped his case against the company just days before the trial in Los Angeles was set to start, ​his attorneys said on Wednesday.

The lawsuit, brought by ​a 15-year-old boy known as R.K.C., originally named four ⁠defendants, Google's YouTube (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, Meta's (META.O), opens new tab Instagram, Snap Inc's (SNAP.N), opens new tab Snapchat and ​ByteDance's TikTok, but YouTube and TikTok settled in June. The terms ​of those settlements were confidential.

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Snap had reached a tentative settlement in the case.

R.K.C., who started using social media ​when he was about 8, said he became addicted to ​it, losing sleep and suffering from depression and anxiety, according to court ‌filings.

"In ⁠light of the overall successful result of the litigation and his concerns about enduring a grueling weeks-long trial, he has elected to withdraw his claims against Meta," attorneys for ​R.K.C. said in ​a statement. "He’s ⁠ready to close this chapter and focus on his recovery and engage in therapy as ​he aspires to have a normal life."

A spokesperson ​for ⁠Meta said in a statement R.K.C. had dropped the claims without receiving any payment.

"The claims never held up, and this outcome ⁠makes ​clear that we will not back ​away from defending ourselves against baseless lawsuits," the company said.

Reporting by Diana Novak ​Jones; Editing by Chris Reese, Alexia Garamfalvi and Chizu Nomiyama

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Diana reports on product liability, litigation, mass torts and the plaintiffs' bar. She previously worked at Law360 and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Alphabet reports after the closing bell tonight. Q2 '26 GOOGL rev estimate - $127 bl (gross revenue), while the sell-side seems to be around $100 bl – $102 bl for the net revenue. Free cash flow estimated per LSEG for Q3 and Q4 '25 - $6.7 billion and $2.2 bl, respectively.

In Brief

Posted:

10:08 AM PDT · July 22, 2026

Image Credits:Google Google announced on Wednesday a new migration experience built directly into Android 17 that should ease the switch from iPhone to Android. The feature lets users wirelessly transfer more data types from an iPhone without needing to download a separate app, Google says.

By simplifying the onboarding process and supporting more data types, the tech giant is looking to lower the barriers to switching smartphone ecosystems as it aims to attract more iPhone users.

With this new method, users can transfer photos, videos, contacts, messages, calendars, and newly supported data types, including their Google Account, passwords, Wi-Fi credentials, and even their eSIM, when switching from an iPhone to Android.

The upgrade has already started rolling out to select Pixel devices, and it’s also available on the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 and Z Fold8 series, which were unveiled today. The new migration method will also come to more Android devices soon, Google says.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai is likely to face questions about its delayed frontier AI during earnings. Bloomberg/Getty Images In the AI race, the throne is never safe. Just ask Google.

After the success of Gemini 3, Google found itself in a strong position at the end of 2025. As of this week, the situation is a little shakier.

While the company just rolled out three faster, more cost-effective models, it continues to delay its next frontier model, Gemini 3.5 Pro, and it's unclear whether this week's launches will be enough to keep users and investors happy in the interim.

Some of Google's competitors are using the opportunity to land a few jabs.

Alexandr Wang, Meta's chief AI officer, wrote on X "gemini who?" in response to a leaderboard that ranked Meta's Spark model above one launched by Google this week.

Thibault Sottiaux, a member of technical staff at OpenAI, also took an apparent jab at the search giant. In a post on X, Google's Logan Kilpatrick announced that pre-training on Gemini 4 — the next big milestone model — had begun. "Hope it finishes one day too!" Sottiaux replied.

Google declined to comment.

'Too early to count anyone out'Google's delay is particularly glaring because OpenAI and Anthropic have rolled out new top-tier models in recent weeks. The pushback of Gemini 3.5 Pro has "shifted perception from leading edge to trailing edge," said Josh Beck, an analyst at Raymond James, in a note this week. He said he saw this as a byproduct of the fast pace of change among the labs right now.

At the same time, Google's business has been humming along nicely in recent quarters, with strong momentum across Search, YouTube, Cloud, and other areas benefiting from Google's AI advancements. Google is also betting that faster, more cost-effective models may be a winning strategy at a time when token costs are racking up.

Google's focus on more efficient models has received praise from some users.

"Google gets a lot of criticism on here for falling behind on agentic coding, but Gemini 3.5 Flash has long been my daily driver for agentic document extraction, which is one of the highest-value use-cases for LLMs IMO," Kyle Walker, founder of Clearfork Intelligence, wrote on X.

Still, Google may need to address this trade-off between efficiency and power when it announces Q2 earnings on Wednesday evening. Analysts are likely to raise the topic of 3.5 Pro and its release timeline.

"I love Gemini, probably more than I should but them hyping 4 before even delivering 3.5 Pro is a lil weird," Anshel Sag, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, wrote on X.

Sag told Business Insider he felt that Google hyping up Gemini 4 was an "admission they already have something better." However, he said the "feverish pace" of AI right now doesn't necessarily yield meaningful improvements.

"I just feel like Google is a much bigger company and moves a bit differently from its competitors," said Sag.

He added: "It's just way too early to count anyone out."

Have something to share? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at 628-228-1836. Use a personal email address and a non-work device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

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Warren Buffett once joked that outgoing Apple (AAPL -1.05%) CEO Tim Cook had made more money for Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA -0.07%) (BRKB -0.21%) than Buffett ever did. Of course, it was Buffett's decision to pile about $36 billion into Apple stock between 2016 and 2018, an investment that resulted in massive capital gains for Berkshire shareholders.

Unfortunately, Berkshire has sold more than 75% of its Apple stake since 2018. The stock now trades near its all-time high, about 70% higher than where it was when Buffett started selling the stock in earnest in early 2024. He even joked in an interview earlier this year that he sold it too soon.

Indeed, if Berkshire had held on to every share it owned in 2018, its stake in Apple would be worth approximately $330 billion today.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Buffett's most profitable investment ever Despite "selling too early," the Apple investment netted over $100 billion in profit for Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett estimated earlier this year. With the stock price climbing to a new all-time high this month, the value of that investment keeps going up. Apple remains Berkshire's largest equity position.

The reason Buffett sold the stock was simple: The value of Berkshire's stake in the tech company had exceeded the value of everything else in its equity portfolio in 2023.

"I'm very happy to have it be our largest holding," he explained. "I was not happy to have it be as large as almost everything else combined."

While Buffett prefers a relatively concentrated portfolio and favors a strategy of letting his winners run, the portfolio's degree of concentration in Apple became too large even for him. It was all about risk management.

However, 2026 has been another strong year for Apple. The market has rewarded Apple for its relatively capital-light business model compared to other tech giants like Alphabet (GOOG +0.00%) (GOOGL -0.13%). While the hyperscalers are planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on capex this year to build and outfit new data centers, Apple's capex has barely budged. It spent about $11 billion on capital expenditures over the past 12 months. That's remarkable for a business that generated over $140 billion in cash from operations over the same period.

Apple has seen strong iPhone sales, and the market still expects strength from its flagship product with potential for an AI-driven upgrade cycle, thanks to the long-awaited Siri revamp released this summer.

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Interestingly, Buffett and his successor, Greg Abel, have turned their attention to Alphabet amid its capital spending spree, suggesting the market may have become overly pessimistic about the potential returns on hyperscalers' data center investments. The size of Berkshire Hathaway's bet on Alphabet is quickly approaching the amount of capital Buffett poured into Apple a decade ago.

Buffett said he'd be interested in buying more Apple stock again if the price came down, but the price has only moved higher since he made that comment. Even at today's price, he and Abel appear to be comfortable with Berkshire's current stake in Apple, keeping it as the largest position in the company's stock portfolio for now.

HomeStock IdeasQuick Picks & Lists

SummaryAlphabet's Q2 earnings will likely be more than just a quarterly report. Investors will also see it as an important gauge of whether the AI buildout cycle remains intact.Continued strength in Google Cloud and a confirmation of high AI investment could provide positive read-through for certain Quant Strong Buy stocks.Investors will also look ahead for additional confirmation in a matter of days, with Microsoft and Amazon reporting next week.Together, those results could help determine whether July's pullback was the beginning of a deeper correction in the AI trade or just a healthy reset before the next growth phase.I am Steven Cress, Head of Quantitative Strategies at Seeking Alpha. I manage the quant ratings and factor grades on stocks and ETFs in Seeking Alpha Premium. I also lead Quant Growth and Income, which is a model portfolio for dividend investors interested in capital appreciation and income. Getty Images

GOOG Earnings and AI "Picks-and-Shovels" Stocks Alphabet's (GOOG) (GOOGL) second quarter earnings report could provide one of the clearest signals yet on whether hyperscalers remain committed to the artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout. Investors will closely watch for management

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of CRDO, LITE either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given that any particular security, portfolio, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. The author is not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security or other matter. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether any investment, security or strategy, or any product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal and financial situation. Steven Cress is the Head of Quantitative Strategy at Seeking Alpha. Any views or opinions expressed herein may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank.

Amazon is laying off some employees in its unit focused on artificial general intelligence, the company confirmed Wednesday, as it continues to cut jobs while pouring money into AI.

The company declined to disclose how many staffers were affected, or which parts of the AGI organization were exposed to the cuts. The AGI unit is focused on building AI models, and also includes groups working on silicon development and quantum computing initiatives.

"This is a fast-moving space, and we're sharpening our focus on the initiatives that matter most for customers, so we can move faster on what counts," an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. "That focus means some difficult decisions, including eliminating some roles within parts of our AGI organization, even as we continue to invest in the areas most important to our customers' future."

Reuters first reported the layoffs.

Amazon has been downsizing over the past several years following a pandemic hiring binge, and as it commits massive sums to building out AI infrastructure. The company has laid off more than 30,000 staffers since last October, and has continued to eliminate roles through smaller rounds in recent months.

The AGI unit is a core part of Amazon's AI strategy as the company tries to keep pace with leaders OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. AGI generally refers to AI that can perform as well or better than humans on most tasks.

In 2024, Amazon's AGI group released a set of foundation models, called Nova. The unit took on a more expansive focus last December when Amazon tapped longtime cloud executive Peter DeSantis to replace Rohit Prasad as the head of the group.

In February, the company lost the head of its AGI lab, David Luan, who joined Amazon in 2024 through a so-called acquihire of his startup Adept.

Amazon's spokesperson said the company has been building large AI models for several years and "it remains one of the most important things we're working on."

DeSantis acknowledged in an interview with CNBC last month that Amazon's models "haven't been at the very frontier for the very largest, most demanding workloads."

He said Amazon has been working to shore up its models further and it hopes to have one of the "most capable intelligent models out there."

Amazon is scheduled to report second-quarter results next week. The company has forecast capital expenditures for the year of $200 billion, an increase of more than 50% from 2025, and is raising tens of billions of dollars in debt to help fund its AI buildout.

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Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) reports second-quarter earnings on July 30, and Bank of America is raising the bar ahead of the print, arguing AWS is accelerating faster than the Street expects.

BofA now projects second-quarter revenue of $198.8 billion and operating profit of $24.1 billion, both above consensus of $196.8 billion and $23.6 billion.

The upside case centers on AWS: the bank raised its growth estimate to 33% year over year, up from 31%, a 5-point acceleration from the first quarter.

The driver is surging demand from AI model providers, with Anthropic-related revenue and OpenAI models on Bedrock cited as key contributors.

AWS margins should expand year over year to 34% on strong capacity utilization and pricing, though they'll contract sequentially as stock-based compensation rises.

Retail looks steadier. Bank of America card data shows online spending accelerated 2 points sequentially, consistent with Street expectations for North American retail growth to reach 14% year over year, even as the Prime Day bump appeared more modest than in prior years. BofA also thinks Amazon could raise its 2026 capex outlook to $210 billion on higher memory costs.

For the third quarter, BofA expects revenue guidance of $200.5 billion to $205.5 billion, a midpoint just below the Street's $204 billion. That outlook bakes in a roughly $1 billion sequential decline in North American retail tied to Prime Day timing, offset by international growth and AWS accelerating to 36%, adding an estimated $3.8 billion sequentially.

On profit, BofA expects a guidance range of $21.5 billion to $26.5 billion, with a $24 billion midpoint, flattish sequentially and slightly below the Street's $25 billion. Amazon typically guides conservatively, but AWS acceleration should still drive sequential profit growth.

BofA's broader thesis is that results will showcase Amazon's improving AI positioning, including AWS acceleration, an expanding backlog reportedly including $100 billion tied to Anthropic, positive Bedrock datapoints, and margin benefits from Amazon's Trainium chips.

by Mary Jo Foley on Jul 22, 2026 at 9:36 amJuly 22, 2026 at 9:53 am

Nearly 20 years ago (!), in 2007, I published my first and only book: Microsoft 2.0. It focused on changes I expected at the company in the “Post-Gates” era. What would remain the same and what likely would be different once co-founder and CEO Bill Gates had left the building?

CEO Satya Nadella has not exited the company (yet). But there’s no question that Microsoft and its mission have morphed considerably in the past year or two. I’m not quite ready to christen this the Microsoft 3.0 era, even though Nadella handed the reins of Microsoft’s dominant commercial business to Judson Althoff nearly a year ago.

That decision resulted in Nadella moving into more of a “founder mode” role, allowing him to focus less on the day-to-day work of running the business. (Microsoft historians may recall that Gates made a somewhat similar move back in 2000 when he became Microsoft’s chief software architect.)

While it might not yet be time for Microsoft 3.0, we arguably could be in the “Microsoft 2.5” era. Windows and Office are still around and still play a big role. Microsoft still builds and sells developer tools and databases. But there’s no question that the cloud and all things AI are at the top of the pecking order now.

I’m embarking on a series here at GeekWire that will focus on what matters to Microsoft and, by extension, to its customers, partners, investors, and employees these days. Who are some of the people shaping and leading the company? What are their opportunities and challenges right now?

Over the next few weeks, I will be profiling various Microsoft execs working on plans for Microsoft’s ongoing evolution. Some are company veterans; some are newcomers. I’ll be talking with top execs from Microsoft’s Security, Copilot, Windows + Devices, Xbox, GitHub, and more.

I’m interested in their strategies for Microsoft’s key products and technologies and how they plan to try to turn Microsoft’s ambitious vision into reality. What are their teams building? What do they see as their biggest challenges and opportunities? And where do they see the technologies in their respective areas heading?

I feel like many of us who’ve been keeping track of the biggest tech companies (myself included) have fallen into the trap of blaming or attributing everything a company does to AI. Layoffs? AI is the culprit. Price increases? It’s all thanks to AI. Changing sales strategies? Chalk it up to AI …

But upon further reflection, I believe Microsoft’s strategy is more nuanced than “AI or bust.” There’s no question that Microsoft’s AI ambitions are shaping its goals and tactics. But Microsoft, as a heavily enterprise-focused entity, can’t simply stop supporting products that aren’t built from the ground up with AI (as much as it might like to do so). Nor can it just leave behind customers who aren’t 100% onboard with its AI moves.

Couple those enterprise hurdles with some not-so-popular consumer decisions, like axing 3,200 people in the gaming unit, and Microsoft’s approach to turning the ship looks a lot trickier.

Our Microsoft 2.5 series kicks off Thursday. Stay tuned.

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I keep hitting the buy button on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) because I am buying three relationships that no other Mag 7 name can replicate, and the market just handed me a chance to load up while the stock sits down 16.45% year to date and down 20.49% over the past year.

The Three Relationships That Keep Pulling Me Back First, the OpenAI model and API relationship. Satya Nadella spelled it out plainly on the last call: “We have a frontier model royalty-free with all the IP rights that we will have access to all the way to ’32, and we fully plan to exploit it.” Microsoft owns roughly 27% of OpenAI valued near $135B, and OpenAI has contracted an incremental $250B in Azure services. That is a customer, a supplier, and a partner in one seat.

Second, the AMD Helios rack-scale co-development. On July 20, 2026, Microsoft confirmed it will integrate AMD’s Helios AI platform and next-generation EPYC processors into Azure across new HDv2, HXv2, and ND MI455X v7 virtual machines. Microsoft is designing the rack alongside Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), not renting one.

Third, the Copilot+ PC silicon standard and the enterprise seat base behind it. Microsoft now has over 20 million Microsoft 365 Copilot paid seats, seat adds up 250% year over year, and Accenture alone at 740,000 seats. That is the client-edge lock.

The Data That Makes It Cheap The AI business now runs at a $37B annualized rate, up 123% year over year. Commercial remaining performance obligations sit at $627B, up 99%. Q3 FY26 delivered EPS of $4.27 against $4.09 estimated, the fourth consecutive beat, on revenue of $82.89B, up 18.3%. Operating margin holds at 45.62%, ROE at 33.28%, and debt to equity at 0.176 with interest coverage of 53.89x. At a trailing P/E of 23 and a forward P/E of 20, I am paying a market multiple for one of the highest-quality balance sheets in the market.

Why Not the Obvious Alternatives The names a reader reaches for first are Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) for AWS and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) for Google Cloud. Neither one owns a royalty-free IP license to a frontier model through 2032. Neither one shows me a $627B RPO backlog that grew 99%. Neither one is running 17 exabytes of enterprise context in a WorkIQ layer that gets stickier every day. Azure grew 40% off a base that crossed $75B in annual revenue in FY25. My money keeps going here because the moat is specific and measurable.

The Real Risk CapEx. Q3 alone hit $30.88B, up 84.39%, and management guided calendar 2026 CapEx near $190B. Free cash flow fell 3.32% in FY25. If AI returns do not materialize, payback stretches. What keeps me steady: roughly two-thirds is short-lived GPU and CPU capacity, with the rest supporting 15-plus year monetization, and operating cash flow climbed 26.01% to $46.68B in a single quarter.

Forward Conviction Analysts carry a $558.21 target with 54 buys and zero sells. I need the three relationships to keep compounding, the dividend of $3.56 per share to keep growing, and management to keep returning capital like the $12.7B they sent shareholders in Q2 alone. As long as OpenAI, AMD, and 20 million Copilot seats pull in the same direction, my buy button stays warm.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) struck a multibillion-dollar deal with Anthropic that includes an investment of up to $5 billion in the AI developer, contingent on

Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow breaks down the news of OpenAI's advanced AI models unexpectedly hacking Hugging Face's system during testing, raising fresh concerns about AI safety. Plus, AMD is making a big bet by investing up to $5 billion in Anthropic.

The "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks led the S&P 500 higher in recent years amid excitement about their involvement in the high-growth field of artificial intelligence (AI). But over the past several months, many of these players have lost some momentum -- and this has brought down their valuations.

For the strongest of companies, I see this as a temporary move as the long-term AI story remains intact. And that means right now is an excellent time to go bargain hunting and pick up shares of my two favorite discount "Magnificent Seven" stocks: Nvidia (NVDA +3.05%) and Microsoft (MSFT -2.33%).

Image source: The Motley Fool.

1. Nvidia Nvidia dominates the AI chip market, selling the graphics processing units (GPUs) that power crucial AI tasks. This has propelled the company to record revenue levels and double- and triple-digit growth in recent years. In the latest full year, for example, revenue climbed 65% to $215 billion.

The tech giant also has maintained high profitability on sales -- gross margin has exceeded 70% quarter after quarter over the past couple of years.

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Meanwhile, Nvidia's commitment to innovation should keep it ahead of rivals. Nvidia has pledged to launch chip or system updates on an annual basis, and the next one is just ahead. The company is on track to ship the Vera Rubin system later this year. At the same time, it's important to note that companies across the AI market have steadily spoken of strong demand, so the overall environment looks bright.

All of this means Nvidia is a smart buy today at 22x forward earnings estimates.

2. Microsoft Microsoft stock has struggled in recent times as investors worried that advancements in AI could replace software. But I don't think this will happen, at least not to a great extent. While AI may replace certain software, it's unlikely to upset platforms that are profoundly integrated into companies' operations -- like Microsoft's offerings.

It's also important to note that Microsoft has incorporated AI into its software suite -- you may be familiar with Copilot -- so as AI's capabilities advance, Microsoft's software also should benefit.

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At the same time, Microsoft's cloud business offers its customers a variety of AI products and services, and this is driving tremendous growth. In the recent quarter, the AI business reached annual recurring revenue of $37 billion. So AI has been a big opportunity for Microsoft, and this is likely to continue as AI is more often applied to real-world problems.

Today, Microsoft is trading at 20x forward earnings estimates, making it the second-cheapest "Magnificent Seven" stock after Meta Platforms. At this level, it's a no-brainer discount buy.

Adria Cimino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Jim Cramer has said that the stock for the largest company globally by market capitalization, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), ‘is on fire’.

On July 22, Cramer told his mass social media following that Nvidia stock is heating up despite a lack of specific reason.

“Remember the largest stock in this market is on fire… and we don’t know why… NVDA,” Cramer noted.

Over the past 24 hours, Nvidia stock price surged nearly 4%, trading at about $213.66 at press time. As such, the company had a market capitalization of more than $5 trillion at the time of publication.

NVDA 24-hour chart. Source: Finbold After being trapped in a correction phase between mid May 2026 and late June, Nvidia stock has rallied over 9.6 % so far in July, up from $194.83 on July 2.

Why is Nvidia stock going up today? Nvidia stock surged today partly due to positive sentiment from Vivek Arya, an analyst at Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). On Wednesday, BofA said it sees the CPU (Central Processing Unit) market reaching $170 billion by 2030.

Consequently, Arya reiterated a Buy rating for NVDA stock, and set a 12-month price target of $350, signaling a potential upside of more than 63%. In the AI infrastructure news, Arya pointed to growing competition between Nvidia’s Vera CPU and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD).

Meanwhile, Nvidia stock could have gained uptrend momentum today following bullish sentiment from Wall Street analysts. Specifically, 37 Wall Street analysts surveyed by TipRanks have issued a Strong Buy rating for Nvidia stock and set an average 12-month price target of $309.94.

NVDA analyst ratings. Source: TipRanks The company has also made notable investments to increase its revenue in the long haul. For instance, Nvidia disclosed an ownership of 22.2 million shares in Nebius Group N.V. (NASDAQ: NBIS). 

As a result, Nvidia owns 10% of the full-stack AI cloud infrastructure. Earlier today, Nvidia launched the Medical Physics Simulation framework, a major healthcare AI news.

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AT&T Inc. (T) Q2 2026 Earnings Call July 22, 2026 8:30 AM EDT

Company Participants

Brett Feldman - Senior Vice President of Finance & Investor Relations
John Stankey - CEO, President & Chairman
Pascal Desroches - Senior EVP & CFO

Conference Call Participants

Sean Diffley - Morgan Stanley, Research Division
John Hodulik - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division
David Barden - New Street Research LLP
Craig Moffett - MoffettNathanson LLC
Michael Rollins - Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Samuel McHugh - BNP Paribas, Research Division
Peter Supino - Wolfe Research, LLC

Presentation

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to AT&T's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to our host, Brett Feldman, Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Brett Feldman
Senior Vice President of Finance & Investor Relations

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to our second quarter call. I'm Brett Feldman, Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations for AT&T. Joining me on the call today are John Stankey, our Chairman and CEO; and Pascal Desroches, our CFO. Before we begin, I need to call your attention to our safe harbor statement. It says that some of our comments today may be forward-looking. As such, they are subject to risks and uncertainties described in AT&T's SEC filings. Results may differ materially. Additional information as well as our earnings materials are available on the Investor Relations website.

With that, I'll turn things over to John.

John Stankey
CEO, President & Chairman

Thanks, Brett, and good morning, everyone. I do appreciate you joining us today. Earlier this year, we provided an outlook for accelerated growth and execution of our strategy, and that's exactly what we delivered in the second quarter. We gained more than 1 million advanced connectivity subscribers from fiber, fixed wireless and postpaid phones, with all 3

2 ETFs to Access the World's Best-Performing Stock Markets In 2026AT&T NYSE: T reported faster growth in service revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share in the second quarter of 2026, with executives pointing to gains in fiber, fixed wireless and postpaid phone subscribers as the main drivers of the quarter’s performance.

Chairman and CEO John Stankey said the company added more than 1 million “Advanced Connectivity” subscribers across fiber, fixed wireless and postpaid phones, with all three categories posting higher net additions than a year earlier. He said the quarter marked AT&T’s best-ever second quarter for fiber net additions and a record quarter for combined fiber and fixed wireless net additions.

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Travelers Stock Surges 10% as Earnings Beat Reveals Underwriting Discipline“Earlier this year, we provided an outlook for accelerated growth and execution of our strategy. That’s exactly what we delivered in the second quarter,” Stankey said.

Revenue and Earnings Growth Accelerate CFO Pascal Desroches said consolidated revenue rose 2.3% year-over-year in the second quarter, driven by 2.7% growth in service revenue. Adjusted EBITDA increased 5.2%, and adjusted EBITDA margin rose 110 basis points to 39.1%.

MarketBeat Week in Review – 07/13- 07/17Adjusted earnings per share were $0.65, up more than 20% from $0.54 in the prior-year period. Desroches attributed the increase primarily to adjusted EBITDA growth and lower depreciation expense.

The company reiterated its full-year outlook for consolidated service revenue growth in the low-single-digit range, adjusted EBITDA growth of 3% to 4%, and adjusted EPS of $2.25 to $2.35.

Free cash flow rose by roughly $300 million year-over-year to $4.7 billion, exceeding the company’s guidance range of $4 billion to $4.5 billion. AT&T maintained its expectation for more than $18 billion in full-year free cash flow and $23 billion to $24 billion in capital investment.

Fiber, Wireless and Convergence Remain Central AT&T’s Advanced Connectivity segment, which Desroches said contributes more than 90% of service revenue and nearly all adjusted EBITDA, continued to lead growth. Segment service revenue increased 5.1% year-over-year, while EBITDA rose 8%.

Wireless service revenue grew 3.3%, supported by customer growth, including 432,000 postpaid phone net additions, and pricing actions that took effect during the quarter. Desroches said AT&T added 147,000 consumer postpaid wireless accounts, its best result in more than three years.

Advanced home internet service revenue increased more than 27% year-over-year, driven by fiber net additions, accelerated fiber deployment, converged offers and the acquisition of fiber assets from Lumen in the first quarter. Fiber ARPU declined 1.3% from a year earlier, which Desroches said primarily reflected the full-quarter impact of the Lumen transaction, as those subscribers have lower ARPUs. Excluding customers in the acquired Lumen footprint, fiber ARPU was approximately flat.

Stankey said 42.5% of AT&T’s advanced home internet customers also had a postpaid wireless account at the end of the quarter. Excluding customers in the acquired Lumen footprint, the convergence rate was 45%.

“When customers consolidate their internet access with us, we see lower churn, outstanding brand affinity, higher lifetime values,” Stankey said.

During the question-and-answer session, Stankey said AT&T is focused on growing average account revenue and service revenue, rather than maximizing ARPU for individual products. He said the company is willing to use discounts strategically when they help create converged customer relationships that typically have lower churn and higher lifetime value.

Lumen Integration and Fiber Expansion Progress Stankey said 2026 will be AT&T’s largest year ever for fiber expansion, with plans to reach 8 million new locations, including more than 4 million locations acquired from Lumen.

He said AT&T has spent the past six months standing up operations in the acquired Lumen footprint to support growth, network deployment and the branded rollout of AT&T Fiber. Stankey said June converged gross additions in those territories were up 45% compared with February, a figure he later clarified referred to AT&T’s ability to pair broadband sales with wireless service, not overall broadband sales volume.

Stankey said AT&T is converting infrastructure, branding, support systems, technician processes and customer equipment market by market in the acquired footprint. He said the company is nearing the point where it can “put a little more gasoline on the fire” and increase sales volumes under the AT&T brand.

Buybacks Raised as EchoStar Deal Nears Close AT&T returned $4.1 billion to shareholders in the second quarter, including approximately $2.2 billion of share repurchases. Desroches said the company is on pace to repurchase nearly $1 billion of stock in July and now expects to buy back approximately $10 billion of shares in 2026, up from a prior target of $8 billion.

Desroches said the updated repurchase plan represents a pull-forward of planned buybacks through 2028. Combined with expected dividend payments, shareholder returns are expected to total approximately $18 billion this year, essentially matching the company’s full-year free cash flow outlook.

AT&T ended the quarter with net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 2.68 times, essentially flat with the first quarter. Desroches said AT&T expects leverage to rise to the 3.2 times range after closing its planned acquisition of spectrum licenses from EchoStar, which the company expects by the end of July, and then return to its target range of about 2.5 times within approximately three years.

Stankey said the board remains actively engaged on capital allocation and that the company’s decision to increase repurchases reflected what management sees as a gap between AT&T’s operating fundamentals and its stock valuation.

Copper Retirement, AI Traffic and Network Strategy Stankey said AT&T made progress exiting inefficient copper-based services, helped by recent Federal Communications Commission actions. He said the FCC gave AT&T permission to discontinue legacy copper voice service at about 60% of its wire centers in California. Nationwide, AT&T has approval to discontinue legacy services in more than 30% of its wire centers, effective by late 2026.

Desroches said legacy segment service revenue declined 26% year-over-year, while EBITDA declined about 46% as AT&T accelerates the process of powering down its legacy copper network and migrating customers to more advanced voice and internet services.

Stankey also used the call to outline AT&T’s view of AI-driven network demand. He said agentic AI is changing network traffic in “volume, shape, symmetry, and criticality,” citing industry research showing AI agents can generate up to 450% more total traffic per task than a human performing the same work. He said agentic adoption is projected to drive approximately nine times growth in enterprise traffic and approximately seven times growth in consumer traffic by 2035.

Stankey said AT&T’s fiber and spectrum investments position the company to handle future demand for low-latency, high-bandwidth and uplink-optimized connectivity. In response to analyst questions, he said the company’s planned EchoStar spectrum acquisition and 600 MHz spectrum position should help support stronger wireless uplink performance.

AT&T also discussed leadership transition plans following the announcement that Desroches will retire at the end of the year. Stankey said Jennifer Biry will return to the company as CFO and described the transition as “deliberate and carefully planned.”

About AT&T (NYSE:T)AT&T Inc is a global telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and digital entertainment services. Its core activities include consumer and business wireless services, broadband and fiber internet, and network infrastructure. The company operates branded wireless services through AT&T Mobility and deploys fixed-line and fiber networks to deliver high-speed internet and related home services.

AT&T's product and service portfolio spans mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and device sales, home internet (including fiber-to-the-home where available), and managed connectivity solutions for enterprise customers.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

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AT&T Chairman and CEO John Stankey appeared on a Wednesday, July 22, CNBC interview tied to the company’s Q2 earnings call to push back against the narrative that satellite operators like SpaceX’s Starlink pose an existential threat to legacy telecom carriers.

He believes that decades of terrestrial infrastructure investment, combined with a fiber-plus-wireless convergence strategy, have built a moat that a satellite entrant cannot economically replicate.

AT&T Beats Earnings as Fiber and Wireless Add 1 Million Accounts AT&T (NYSE:T | T Price Prediction) delivered adjusted EPS of $0.65 against a $0.5871 consensus, a 10.71% beat and the company’s fifth consecutive quarterly earnings beat. Revenue reached $31.558 billion, up 2.3% year over year, slightly below the $31.81 billion estimate. Net income climbed 11.96% to $5.038 billion.

Stankey cited over a million new strategic accounts, the most in three years, alongside nearly 370,000 new fiber additions and 430,000 postpaid voice additions. Fixed wireless subscribers via AT&T Internet Air grew 77.4% year over year to 2.611 million connections, and consumer wireline broadband revenue rose 27.3% to $2.926 billion. Full-year guidance was reiterated at $2.25 to $2.35 adjusted EPS, with EBITDA and EPS lifted to the upper end of the range.

AT&T’s CEO Says Starlink Cannot Replicate Its Infrastructure Moat On the product itself, Stankey said: “We have the best broadband product that’s out there that’s built on a foundation of fiber. Our wireless business gets stronger and stronger. We bolstered the performance of that business with some really important and strategic spectrum acquisitions.”

On Starlink’s positioning, he argued: “They’re coming to the game very late, after this industry has been established. They have to catch up with substantial amounts of infrastructure investment that’s been going on for decades inside hospitals, on university campuses, in stadiums, in tall buildings.” He added that AT&T “handles 98%+ of the traffic on a converged customer” already today, with partnerships expected to cover remaining edge cases by next year.

Rather than pursuing a wholesale Starlink deal, AT&T is co-buying satellite capacity through a JV consortium alongside T-Mobile and Verizon for coverage gaps. As Stankey framed it: “I don’t feel a need right now that I need to have a satellite partner as a main distribution vehicle for me, because I don’t think it addresses a part of the market that I can’t get to on my own.“

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AT&T’s CEO Says Its Current Multiple Is Too Cheap Stankey acknowledged the disconnect between operating momentum and share price: “I do believe our multiple right now is probably suppressed based on what this business is going to do and perform moving forward. When the cash shows up, eventually the valuation dynamic takes care of itself.“

The stock is up 55% over three years but down 16% over the past year. $T trades at a trailing P/E of 7 and a forward P/E of 9, with an EV/EBITDA of 5 and an average analyst price target of $29.03, slightly above the stock’s current price of $22.81.

AT&T is accelerating repurchases to approximately $10 billion in 2026, part of a $45+ billion capital return plan through 2028. Free cash flow is guided to $18 billion in 2026, $19 billion in 2027, and $21 billion in 2028. Fiber locations reached 38.6 million, targeting 40 million by year-end 2026 and 60 million by 2030.

Wall Street Still Sees Starlink and Cash Flow Risks CEO Stankey’s confidence collides with skepticism from parts of the Street. Bernstein and Scotiabank have cut price targets citing Starlink competition, and TechStock² flagged that AT&T needs to generate $11.0 to $11.5 billion in free cash flow in the second half to hit guidance.

Jim Cramer has said he does not want to own AT&T or Verizon (NYSE:VZ) due to Starlink. Verizon is up 10.09% over the past year, having closed its Frontier fiber acquisition in January.

The next test will be whether AT&T can meet its second-half-of-the-year cash flow targets and convince investors that satellite competition does not threaten its long-term growth.

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3M Company (NYSE:MMM) on Tuesday reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its full-year guidance.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $2.40 per share, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $2.25. Revenue rose 2.4% year over year to $6.50 billion, topping expectations of $6.41 billion.

3M increased its 2026 adjusted earnings forecast to a range of $8.80 to $8.95 per share from its prior outlook of $8.50 to $8.70. The new range is above the Wall Street consensus estimate of $8.75.

The company also updated its full-year revenue outlook to a range of $23.19 billion to $25.37 billion, compared with analysts’ estimate of $25.15 billion.

3M shares fell 2.5% to trade at $168.72 on Wednesday.

These analysts made changes to their price targets on 3M following earnings announcement.

RBC Capital analyst Deane Dray maintained the stock with an Underperform rating and raised the price target from $123 to $132. Citigroup analyst Andrew Kaplowitz maintained the stock with a Neutral and raised the price target from $166 to $183. Considering buying MMM stock? Here’s what analysts think:

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