Key Takeaways GE Vernova plans $11B in capex and R&D through 2028 as it scales investments for long-term growth. Its upgraded Noventa lab will test transformers and disconnectors for tougher, renewable-heavy grids. Italy investments include a $30M-plus Sesto expansion, with Noventa adding about 15 workers annually. GE Vernova (GEV - Free Report) is entering a phase of elevated investment, with plans to invest $11 billion in capex and research and development in the 2025-2028 timeframe. As part of this plan, the company recently announced the completion of the modernization of its high-voltage R&D laboratory at the Noventa di Piave site, near Venice, Italy.
The project is part of a broader four-year investment of about $7.2 million to strengthen the site's role in developing technologies that make power grids more reliable, flexible and resilient. As electricity demand increases and more renewable energy is added to the grid, utilities need modern equipment that can operate under tougher conditions. The upgraded laboratory will enable GE Vernova to test critical equipment, such as transformers and disconnectors, before it is installed in power networks.
The investment adds to GE Vernova's ongoing spending across its electrification business in Italy, including the recently announced expansion of the manufacturing facility in Sesto San Giovanni, which is valued at more than $30 million. The Noventa di Piave facility is part of GE Vernova's Electrification segment. With more than 50 years of experience, it has become an important part of the company's operations in Italy.
The site currently employs more than 300 people and plans to hire about 15 additional employees annually in the coming years. The modernization project supports the facility's long-term growth, helps attract skilled workers and strengthens its contribution to the local economy.
Together, the Noventa di Piave and Sesto San Giovanni facilities form an important part of GE Vernova's operations in Italy. They provide manufacturing, research and testing capabilities that support the country's power infrastructure while serving customers in export markets worldwide. GE Vernova has supported Italy's power sector for more than 100 years. Today, its technology helps power about 25% of Italy's electricity generation capacity.
To conclude, GE Vernova's aggressive investment strategy reflects confidence. Going forward, we are likely to see higher capex spending. This also appears to mark a turning point as the company positions itself for growth, stronger margins and long-term value creation.
Taking a Look at the R&D Plans of CompetitorsEmerson Electric (EMR - Free Report) continues to increase investments in research and development to strengthen its automation, software and intelligent industrial technologies portfolio. Following the acquisitions of National Instruments and AspenTech, the company is focusing its R&D efforts on AI-enabled automation, industrial software, machine vision, test and measurement systems, digital twins and advanced process control.
These technologies are designed to help manufacturers improve productivity, optimize energy use and accelerate digital transformation across industries such as power generation, chemicals, life sciences and semiconductors. Emerson spent $771 million on R&D in fiscal 2025, reflecting its continued commitment to product innovation.
Emerson plans to deepen the integration of hardware, software and industrial AI across its automation platform. The company is expanding research into autonomous operations, edge computing, predictive maintenance, cybersecurity and cloud-based industrial software.
Eaton Corporation (ETN - Free Report) continues to prioritize research and development as demand grows for electrification, grid modernization and intelligent power management. The company's innovation strategy focuses on next-generation switchgear, circuit protection, transformers, digital substations, power distribution equipment and energy storage integration.
ETN is also investing in software, power electronics and intelligent electrical systems that help utilities and commercial customers improve grid reliability while supporting renewable energy, electric vehicles and AI-driven data centers. Eaton's long-term investment strategy is centered on the structural growth opportunities created by electrification and digitalization.
ETN's R&D pipeline increasingly targets connected and software-enabled electrical infrastructure. The company is expanding development of digital monitoring platforms, predictive maintenance tools, microgrid technologies and energy management solutions that improve efficiency and resilience across power networks.
GEV Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of GE Vernova have surged in double digits (% wise) so far this year, easily surpassing the Zacks Alternate Energy – Other industry’s growth.
YTD Price Comparison
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GE Vernova trades at a forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 5.74, above the industry’s reading.
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See how the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GEV’s earnings has been revised over the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
GEV’s Zacks RankGEV currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Key Takeaways NBIS targets at least 4 GW of contracted power in 2026 after expanding beyond 3.5 GW in the first quarter.Nebius broadened its AI platform with Aether 3.6 and acquisitions of Tavily, Eigen AI and Clarifai.NBIS raised 2026 capex to $20-$25B after securing more than $6B and ending with over $9B in cash. Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS - Free Report) is building an AI-native hyperscaler by executing across four strategic dimensions. It is expanding its capacity and scale, enhancing its products and functionality, growing its customer base and demand, and strengthening its capital position.
On the capacity front, Nebius is rapidly expanding its AI infrastructure. After increasing contracted power from more than 2 GW at the end of 2025 to over 3.5 GW in the first quarter of 2026, the company now targets at least 4 GW this year. It also announced a new Pennsylvania site that will support up to 1.2 GW of power, marking its second company-owned GW-scale AI campus in the United States.
Nebius is expanding beyond AI compute to build a fully integrated AI platform. With more than 75% of its contracted power now coming from company-owned infrastructure, it is strengthening its full-stack offering across the AI lifecycle, including bare-metal, multi-tenant cloud, inference and agentic AI services. The launch of Aether 3.6, along with the acquisitions of Tavily, Eigen AI, and Clarifai, further enhances its platform, particularly its AI inference optimization capabilities. Demand is the third growth pillar, led by its full-stack AI platform, which serves a diverse customer base across industries. First-quarter pipeline generation reached a record, growing 3.5x sequentially, while demand continues to outpace available GPU capacity, with new deployments fully committed.
To meet this strong demand and existing customer commitments, Nebius raised its 2026 capex guidance to $20-$25 billion, accelerating capacity that is expected to begin generating revenue in the first half of 2027. Capital is the fourth pillar of Nebius' growth strategy. To fund its rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, it raised more than $6 billion this year, including over $4 billion through convertible notes and $2 billion from NVIDIA's equity investment. As a result, Nebius ended the period with a cash balance exceeding $9 billion, providing ample financial flexibility to support its long-term growth plans.
Inside the Playbooks of NBIS’ Cut-Throat CompetitorsCoreWeave, Inc. (CRWV - Free Report) , like NBIS, highlighted four key themes– rising AI demand across hyperscalers and enterprises, a broader platform supporting training, inference, agentic AI workloads, rapid infrastructure expansion with more than 3.5 GW of contracted power and stronger financing that has secured more than $20 billion in debt and equity this year. AI workloads are shifting from training to inference and enterprise production, driving deeper commitments from existing customers while attracting new enterprise clients. This momentum fueled record backlog additions in the first quarter, with most of the new business expected to support its 2027 growth targets.
Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) capitalizes on AI business momentum and Copilot adoption alongside Azure cloud infrastructure expansion. Its AI capabilities are translating into tangible commercial success, with Microsoft Copilot now deployed across more than 20 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats and growing adoption across productivity, coding and security applications. MSFT’s business model spans multiple high-growth segments that collectively reduce concentration risk while providing numerous expansion vectors. Moreover, financial strength enables simultaneous investment in growth initiatives and substantial shareholder value return, with the company distributing $10.2 billion through dividends and share repurchases in the fiscal third quarter.
NBIS Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of Nebius have gained 151.5% year to date compared with the Internet – Software and Services industry’s growth of 15.2%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of price/book, NBIS’ shares are trading at 7.36X, higher than the Internet Software Services industry’s 3.97X.
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NBIS’ earnings for 2026 has been revised significantly upward over the past 60 days.
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NBIS currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Image Credits:jmbatt / Getty Images Reflection AI, a U.S. startup vying to develop open models, has signed a $1 billion compute deal with European AI infrastructure company Nebius.
Nebius, formerly the international arm of Russian tech giant Yandex, will provide Reflection access to Nvidia’s latest chips. The deal comes just a few weeks after the startup signed a similar deal to access SpaceX’s computing resources, and mirrors several partnerships by AI firms as they race to secure compute for training and deploying their models.
Along with its increasingly capable Chinese counterparts, Reflection is one of several open-weight AI model developers that have received ample attention lately as debate rages over the value of top-shelf, closed-source AI models — especially with data retention concerns surging up, as well as government intervention.
Just last month, the Trump administration pressured Anthropic and OpenAI to restrict their most powerful new models, raising concerns that access to AI models could be taken away overnight. That, plus the release of more capable open models from China, has led to an increase in mainstream interest in open source AI.
Reflection, currently valued at $8 billion, was founded in 2024 by two former Google DeepMind researchers. It has already raised close to $2.6 billion in funding from backers including Nvidia, Sequoia Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Shortly after securing a $2 billion investment from Nvidia, Nebius signed a five-year infrastructure deal with Meta worth up to $27 billion. Last year, Nebius signed a multi-year deal with Microsoft worth up to $19.4 billion.
TechCrunch has reached out to Reflection and Nebius for more information.
Key Takeaways MFC is expanding in Asia, with new business growth supporting insurance and investment earnings. MFC is investing in Wealth and Asset Management and deploying capital into less capital-intensive businesses. Strong free cash flow, dividend growth and share buybacks reflect financial strength. Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC - Free Report) hit a 52-week high of $41.74 on July 13. Shares closed at $41.29 after gaining 36.5% in the past year, outperforming the industry’s growth of 25.1%, the sector's return of 15% and the Zacks S&P 500 composite's appreciation of 24.6%.
Manulife Financial has outperformed its peers, including Primerica, Inc. (PRI - Free Report) , Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF - Free Report) and Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA - Free Report) . Shares of PRI, SLF and RGA have rallied 19.2%, 26.6% and 23.8%, respectively, in the past year.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
With a capitalization of $68.77 billion, the average number of shares traded in the last three months was 2.1 million.
The life insurer has a solid track record of beating earnings estimates in two of the past four quarters and missing in the other two, with an average surprise of 3.36%.
MFC Trading Above 50-Day and 200-Day Moving AveragesShares of Manulife Financial are trading above the 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMA) of $39.54 and $36.21, indicating solid upward momentum. SMA is a widely used technical analysis tool to predict future price trends by analyzing historical price data.
MFC’s Growth Projection EncouragesThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for Manulife Financial’s 2026 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 6.3%. The estimate for 2027 earnings per share indicates an increase of 11.1% from the corresponding 2026 estimates.
Manulife Financial’s Higher Return on CapitalReturn on equity in the trailing 12 months was 16.6%, better than the industry average of 15.9%. This highlights the company’s efficiency in utilizing shareholders’ funds.
Key Points to Note for MFCManulife Financial is aggressively developing its business in Asia, which, in turn, is reaping solid operational results. Asia is a major contributor to the company’s earnings. New business growth in Asia has been aiding the company’s operational results. Thus, the insurer is continually scaling up its business across Asia. We believe MFC is well-positioned to benefit from continued business growth momentum, higher expected earnings on insurance contracts and higher expected investment earnings, with notable growth from the largest in-force business, Hong Kong and an expanding distribution network.
Manulife Financial is expanding its Wealth and Asset Management business and has identified Europe (and the wider EMEA market) as a significant growth area. It is making long-term investments in this region.
MFC has been accelerating growth in the highest-potential businesses. Its inorganic growth is impressive, as this life insurer prudently deploys capital in high-growth, less capital-intensive and higher-return businesses.
Banking on its sturdy capital position, MFC distributes wealth to shareholders through higher dividends and share buybacks. The company has increased its dividend at a seven-year CAGR of 10% and targets a 35-45% dividend payout over the medium term.
MFC is strengthening its balance sheet and thus targets a leverage ratio of 25%. Its free cash flow conversion has remained more than 100% over the last few quarters, reflecting its solid earnings.
End NotesManulife Financial is set to grow on solid Asia business, growing Wealth and Asset Management business, strong free cash flow conversion ratio and a solid capital position. A medium-term expense efficiency ratio target of less than 45%, banking on diligent expense management, should drive growth.
Consistent wealth distribution makes it an attractive pick for yield-seeking investors, and favorable ROE also poises it. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shares of CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK | CLSK Price Prediction) are up 12% to $13.85 in Tuesday morning trading after the Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) miner disclosed a long-duration data center lease that dwarfs its current market capitalization. The move is idiosyncratic, as CleanSpark’s peer miners are barely moving on the day.
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CleanSpark stock is now trading above its $12.22 prior close, though shares were down 25% over the past month heading into today’s news. The company is still primarily a Bitcoin miner, with 1.8 GW under contract and a 50 EH/s hashrate as of May, but management is aggressively pivoting toward data center infrastructure.
Sandersville Lease Fuels the Rally CleanSpark signed a 20-year infrastructure lease with a confidential “high-investment-grade global technology company” at its Sandersville, Georgia campus. The deal covers 175 MW of critical IT load and is expected to generate roughly $6.6 billion in contracted revenue, with two five-year extension options that could lift the total to about $11.6 billion.
It’s structured as a triple-net lease expected to add approximately $330 million in average annual net operating income. CEO Matt Schultz called it “a transformational moment… our evolution into a diversified digital infrastructure platform.” The same tenant also signed a letter of intent covering CleanSpark’s entire 718-acre Texas portfolio, up to 885 MW.
Two caveats matter. Deliveries do not begin until the fourth quarter of 2027, so the revenue impact is a 2027-and-beyond story. The workloads have not been officially labeled as AI or high-performance computing (HPC) by CleanSpark, and the Texas piece remains a letter of intent rather than a signed lease.
Peers Sit Out the Rally The contrast with CleanSpark’s peers underscores that this is a CleanSpark-specific catalyst. Shares of Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA), Hut 8 (NASDAQ:HUT), and HIVE Digital Technologies (NASDAQ:HIVE) are either flat or up slightly today.
Bitcoin itself is only modestly higher. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT) ETF is up 3% to $36.40, tracking spot Bitcoin rather than these miners. Single-asset crypto exposure carries its own volatility profile. For context, Riot’s most comparable deal, its Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) lease at Rockdale, carries $636 million in total contract value over 10 years, an order of magnitude smaller than the CleanSpark headline.
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Weighing the Bull and Bear Cases The bull case for CleanSpark stock is a long-duration, high-margin contracted revenue stream anchored by an investment-grade tenant, with a credible power-to-data-center pivot supported by 585 MW of Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)-approved capacity. The bear case is the 2027 revenue start, CleanSpark’s heavy financing needs, potential equity dilution, and execution risk on a lease valued at roughly 2.1x the company’s current market capitalization.
Short interest sits high at 33%, and sentiment on CleanSpark had turned bearish heading into today. Given the stock’s beta of 3.84, position sizing matters here. The analyst target price on CleanSpark stock sits at $21.12, well above current levels.
What to Watch Now CleanSpark’s ability to finance Sandersville construction without heavy dilution is the next hurdle. Investors can watch for updates on the Texas letter of intent converting to a signed lease, and for whether today’s gains hold into the close given the stock’s short interest and volatility profile.
The financing path is a major concern for CleanSpark. A large equity raise could pressure shares even as the contracted revenue stream builds, while debt financing against the lease could preserve upside but add balance-sheet risk. Either way, the market will be watching how management structures the capital stack for Sandersville.
Peer positioning is the other angle to track. If Riot, MARA, or Hut 8 announce comparable hyperscaler leases in the coming quarters, today’s CleanSpark premium could compress. For now, though, CleanSpark stands alone with a signed deal of this scale, and that scarcity value is what the market is repricing today.
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CleanSpark Inc (NASDAQ:CLSK) shares surged more than 12% after the company announced a 20-year lease agreement for its Sandersville, Georgia data center campus with a high-investment-grade global technology company, marking a major expansion of its data center business.
The agreement is expected to generate approximately $6.6 billion in contracted revenue over the initial 20-year term, with potential revenue increasing to $11.6 billion if two five-year extension options are exercised.
Under the triple-net lease agreement, the undisclosed technology company will deploy production-grade infrastructure at CleanSpark’s Sandersville campus for computing workloads. Deliveries are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027, with the initial deployment covering 175 megawatts of critical IT load.
The Sandersville campus was selected due to its access to power infrastructure, available capacity for high-density computing and ability to support phased data center development, according to the company.
CleanSpark said the lease includes annual escalators and is expected to deliver a cumulative net operating income contribution margin of nearly 100%, with average annual NOI contribution estimated at approximately $330 million. The company expects landlord project costs to range between $10 million and $12 million per megawatt of critical IT load.
The company also announced that the tenant has entered into a letter of intent and exclusivity arrangement covering CleanSpark’s entire Texas portfolio, which includes 718 acres and up to 885 megawatts of secured and planned power capacity.
The Texas portfolio covered by the exclusivity arrangement includes CleanSpark’s Sealy and Brazoria campuses. The Sealy site consists of 271 acres with nearly 300 megawatts of planned capacity, while the Brazoria campus includes 447 acres with transmission-level infrastructure supporting an initial 300 megawatts of demand load and potential expansion to 600 megawatts.
CleanSpark CEO and chairman Matt Schultz wrote that the agreement represented a significant milestone as the company expands beyond its historical operations and begins monetizing its power assets through long-term infrastructure agreements.
“This lease is a transformational moment for CleanSpark as we complete our evolution into a diversified digital infrastructure platform and begin monetizing our power portfolio at institutional scale,” Schultz wrote.
Will Crypto Miners Pivot to AI? Latest on 3 Key PlayersCleanspark NASDAQ: CLSK said it has signed a 20-year triple-net lease with an unnamed high investment-grade global technology company to convert its Sandersville, Georgia, facility into a high-performance computing data center, marking a major step in the company’s shift beyond Bitcoin mining and into AI infrastructure.
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Matt Schultz said on the company’s investor update call that the agreement covers the entirety of the Sandersville site, which has nearly 250 megawatts of gross capacity and 175 megawatts of critical IT load. The base lease has a total contract value of approximately $6.6 billion.
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CleanSpark Secures $1.15B, Stock Drops—Here's Why It's an Opportunity“This morning we announced the signing of a 20-year triple net lease agreement directly with a high investment grade global technology company that will transform our 250-megawatt facility in Sandersville, Georgia, into our first high-performance compute data center,” Schultz said.
Sandersville lease expected to generate $330 million in annual NOI Schultz said CleanSpark expects approximately $330 million of average annual net operating income from the lease, citing the triple-net structure. Chief Financial Officer and President Gary Vecchiarelli said direct costs are expected to be minimal and that net operating income margins “should be close to 100%.”
The Side of Rate Cuts Nobody Is Telling You AboutThe agreement also includes two five-year extension options. If exercised, the total lease term would extend to 30 years and the total contract value would rise to approximately $11.6 billion, according to management.
The company expects the initial data hall to be ready for service in the fourth quarter of 2027, with the remaining data halls ramping into early 2028. In response to an analyst question, Schultz said the remaining data halls are contemplated for completion in the first quarter of 2028.
CleanSpark said it has structured the transaction so that it can continue mining Bitcoin at the Sandersville site until power is transferred to the new data center facility.
Tenant’s preferred contractors to support build-out Schultz said CleanSpark aligned the project scope with the tenant’s preferred mechanical, electrical and plumbing manufacturer and general contractor. He said the company believes that using vendors familiar to the tenant will help reduce execution, supply chain and construction risk.
During the question-and-answer portion of the call, Schultz said the tenant “made a suggestion” regarding the general contractor based on prior familiarity. He said CleanSpark held extensive discussions with the builder and visited its facilities.
“What we hear are horror stories about projects running over time and over budget and trying to design and deploy a bespoke data center,” Schultz said. He added that the contractor’s familiarity with the tenant and ability to manufacture some MEP components in the United States helps address long-lead and supply-chain risks.
CleanSpark estimates cash capital expenditures for the Sandersville build-out at $10 million to $12 million per critical IT megawatt.
Texas sites enter exclusivity with same counterparty In connection with the Sandersville lease, CleanSpark said it has entered an exclusivity window with the same counterparty for its Texas assets in Sealy and Brazoria. Schultz emphasized that the process is not complete.
“I want to be clear that we are in an exclusivity window, not at a finish line,” Schultz said.
Management did not disclose pricing, lease terms or the length of the exclusivity period. Schultz said exclusivity periods in the industry can range from 30 to 120 days, but he declined to provide the specific duration for CleanSpark’s agreement.
Vecchiarelli described Sealy and Brazoria as part of an infrastructure hub in Greater Houston and said the Texas assets offer scale, access to ERCOT’s power market and the potential to grow with a tenant over multiple phases and decades. He said CleanSpark acquired nearly 900 megawatts this fiscal year through the Sealy and Brazoria transactions.
Financing expected to rely heavily on project debt Vecchiarelli said CleanSpark expects to finance “the overwhelming majority” of the Sandersville build-out with project-based financing. He cited recent data center financing transactions that have included high-yield and investment-grade construction financing, as well as cash or equity to complete the capital stack.
As of June 30, CleanSpark had approximately $200 million in cash, nearly 14,000 Bitcoin valued at about $900 million, and an undrawn $400 million Bitcoin-backed revolver, according to Vecchiarelli.
He said financing terms in the market have improved over recent quarters, with higher loan-to-cost ratios and lower interest rates, and added that those trends are closely tied to tenant credit quality. He also said recent project debt financing transactions in the sector have been as much as six times oversubscribed.
Vecchiarelli said CleanSpark intends to minimize equity issuance, calling the company’s stock its “highest cost of capital currently.” He noted that CleanSpark has not raised capital through stock issuance in more than 20 months and has repurchased more than $600 million of its own shares.
Company frames shift as evolution of infrastructure strategy Management described the Sandersville lease as part of CleanSpark’s evolution from energy management and microgrid capabilities to Bitcoin mining and now large-scale AI data center development.
Vecchiarelli said the company currently has 1.8 gigawatts of contracted power and has “a high degree of confidence” that this will increase to 2.1 gigawatts through the ERCOT review process, with further growth expected through ongoing acquisition and development efforts.
Schultz said Sandersville became attractive for HPC development because its power is already energized and live, the company expanded its land position by 122 acres earlier this year, and CleanSpark has established relationships with the local community and utility.
“Sandersville is the natural anchor for our conversations because all 250 megawatts are currently energized and live,” Schultz said.
The company said it would provide updates as the Sandersville project advances and as discussions regarding the Texas assets progress.
About Cleanspark NASDAQ: CLSKCleanSpark, Inc NASDAQ: CLSK is a leading energy software and services company specializing in advanced microgrid controls and distributed energy resource (DER) management. The firm develops proprietary software platforms designed to optimize power flows across on-grid and off-grid installations, integrating renewable generation, battery storage, and traditional generation assets. CleanSpark's technology is used by utilities, commercial and industrial enterprises, and remote facilities seeking to enhance energy resilience, reduce operating costs, and achieve sustainability goals.
In addition to its core software offerings, CleanSpark provides end-to-end engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services.
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The CEO of NioCorp Developments (NB +11.39%) just appeared on CNBC and delivered some big news to investors. That has investors jumping into the U.S.-based miner's stock today.
NioCorp stock jumped 12% at the open after CEO Mark Smith's appearance on Squawk Box Asia last night. Shares remained 10.7% higher as of 11:30 a.m. ET. Here's what he said.
Image source: Getty Images.
Critical mineral deal coming On Jan. 14, 2026, President Trump signed a Section 232 proclamation instructing the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to negotiate agreements with trading partners to address the potential national security threat posed by the importation of processed critical minerals.
The president imposed a 180-day deadline that has now ended, after which he could take further action to ensure national security. In his interview with CNBC, the NioCorp CEO noted that discussions with U.S. allies are ongoing to secure access to rare-earth and critical minerals.
He perhaps surprised investors, though, when Smith said Japan, the EU, and Mexico are currently far along in discussions with the U.S., with deals potentially being announced "literally any day."
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NioCorp has been assessing the possibility of producing several magnetic rare-earth elements from its Elk Creek Project, and Smith said the company is committed to pursuing the project. Any price floor will further enhance financing and returns on that project, Smith said.
That has investors jumping into this speculative name today. For investors who don't wish to put all their eggs in one basket, there are also several rare-earth exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to consider.
Howard Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
[url="]Redwood Trust, Inc.[/url] (NYSE: RWT; âRedwoodâ or the âCompanyâ), a leader in expanding access to housing for homebuyers and renters,is schedule
MILL VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE: RWT; “Redwood” or the “Company”), a leader in expanding access to housing for homebuyers and renters, is scheduled to release its second quarter 2026 results on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, before the open of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, Redwood's senior management team plans to hold a conference call to discuss its second quarter 2026 financial results that same morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time.We.
Seattle is no longer Chili's-less, and to celebrate, Chili's is offering airfare for some of its biggest fans to experience the new Seattle-Tacoma International Airport location
, /PRNewswire/ -- For years, thousands of Seattle-area fans have flooded Chili's social channels, inboxes, and comment sections with one simple question: when are you coming back? The moment is finally here. Chili's® Grill & Bar has returned to the area for the first time in a decade with a new location inside Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, bringing fan-favorites like the Triple Dipper® and Presidente® Margaritas to SEA Airport's newly expanded Concourse C.
For the first time in a decade, Seattle is Chili's-less no more with a new location inside Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Through Friday, July 17 at 3 p.m. PT, fans who respond to prompts posted on Chili’s Facebook, Instagram, and X will have the chance to receive a $500 flight credit to grab a pre-boarding marg and Big QP in Concourse C before heading wherever they please. If getting through TSA is the only thing standing between guests and their Triple Dipper, Chili's is helping by buying flights for select fans to visit.
Through Friday, July 17 at 3 p.m. PT, fans who respond to prompts posted on Chili's Facebook, Instagram, and X will have the chance to receive a $500 flight credit to grab a pre-boarding marg and Big QP in Concourse C before heading wherever they please. To support the giveaway, Chili's launched a social video inspired by a certain iconic Seattle-based '90s film, announcing that the city is Chili's-less no more.
"Seattle-area guests have been hungry for Chili's for years, and after thousands of requests, we're back in the region," said George Felix, Brinker International chief marketing officer. "Whether guests are heading out, coming home, or passing through, we're ready to bring a little Chili's energy – in the form of Triple Dippers and Presidente margs – back to the Seattle area."
Chili's is ready to welcome Seattle-area fans and travelers from around the world to Concourse C. Guests can visit the new restaurant, operated by SSP America, and follow Chili's on Facebook, Instagram and X for giveaway details and official rules.
About Chili's® Grill & Bar
Hi, welcome to Chili's! A proud leader in the casual dining industry and the flagship brand of Dallas-based Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT), Chili's was honored in 2025 as one of Fast Company's Brands that Matter and Inc.'s Best in Business. The brand was also named Ad Age's Brand of the Year in 2025 and 2026. Founded in 1975, Chili's is known for serving Big Mouth Burgers®, Crispy Chicken Crispers®, and sizzling fajitas, while hand-shaking more margaritas than any other restaurant brand in the United States. Chili's operates 1,600 restaurants in 29 countries and two territories with over 70,000 team members. With a purpose to make everyone feel special, Chiliheads take food, drink and service seriously – but not themselves. Chili's was a proud winner at the 2025 MenuMasters Awards for Best New Menu Item for Nashville Hot Mozz, the breakout addition to the social media-famous Triple Dipper. For more than 20 years, Chili's has been a proud supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and has raised more than $120 million for the organization through generous guest and team member donations. Find more information at chilis.com, follow on X or Instagram, like on Facebook, or join Chili's on TikTok.
Sebastian Kanovich, Director of DLocal Limited (DLO +0.94%), sold 25,700 shares on July 7, 2026, at $15.50 per share. SEC Form 4 filing
Transaction summaryMetricValueTransaction value$398,350Shares sold (directly held)25,700Post-transaction shares (directly held)0Post-transaction valueN/ATransaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average sale price ($15.50); post-transaction value based on July 07, 2026, market close ($14.88).
Key questionsWas this transaction part of a structured liquidity plan?
Yes, the sale was conducted under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on Nov. 26, 2025, which removes discretionary timing from the execution process.Does the liquidation of direct holdings suggest a complete exit?
No, because while the direct Class A holdings were reduced to zero, the director maintains beneficial ownership of 11.6 million Class B Common Shares that are convertible into Class A shares at a 1:1 ratio.What was the market context on the date of the sale?
At the time of the July 7, 2026 transaction, the stock had delivered a 29% total return over the preceding year, with shares priced at $14.49 as of the July 8, 2026 market close.How was the conversion of share classes handled?
The transaction required converting Class B shares, which have no expiration date, into Class A shares to facilitate this disposal.Company OverviewMetricValueShare Price (as of market close 2026-07-13)$14.92Market Capitalization$4.3 billionRevenue (TTM)$1.2 billionNet Income (TTM)$192.1 millionCompany SnapshotDLocal Limited provides comprehensive payment processing solutions, including pay-in services for international and local cards, online bank transfers, direct debit, cash, and hundreds of alternative payment methods (APMs), as well as pay-out solutions for cross-border and local-to-local transactions.The company generates revenue by enabling global merchants to expand their online presence and accept payments through its robust platform, monetizing transaction volumes and payment processing services across multiple payment channels and geographies.DLocal serves global merchants seeking to accept payments in emerging markets and cross-border transactions, with a particular focus on Latin American and other high-growth regions where alternative payment methods are prevalent.DLocal Limited operates as a leading fintech payment processor with a market capitalization of $4.3 billion and TTM revenue of $1.2 billion, demonstrating significant scale in the global payments infrastructure space. The company's competitive advantage derives from its specialized expertise in emerging-market payment ecosystems and its extensive network of local and alternative payment method integrations, enabling merchants to reach customers in regions underserved by traditional payment processors. With a net income margin of approximately 16.0% on TTM revenues, DLocal exhibits strong operational efficiency and profitability characteristics typical of high-quality fintech infrastructure businesses.
What this transaction means for investorsInvestors should not be worried about Kanovich’s sale. Not only is it rather small, but it is also just a byproduct of a structured liquidity plan. Furthermore, while 25,700 DLO shares were sold, Kanovich still holds over 11 million shares -- so this is far from an indictment on the stock.
From an operational perspective, I think DLocal looks better than ever as an investment proposition. While it remains a high-risk, high-reward type of growth stock to consider, the company plays a large (and quickly growing) role in helping global merchants reach hard-to-access foreign markets for payment processing. DLocal processes over $47 billion in payments for nearly 800 merchants across more than 60 markets, successfully using over 1,000 payment methods along the way. Simply put, it is a major force in its niche.
That said, its net take rate has been sliding over recent quarters as it offers concessions with its mega-merchants as they process higher volumes on its platform. This has spooked the markets as it wants to see a “bottoming out” of DLO’s take rate so that it can fit cleanly into a financial model. However, I’m not interested in those -- more so just the fact that DLocal remains the dominator in its niche, as it continues to do. Growing total payment volume by 73% in its latest quarter, while maintaining slower-growing profitability, DLocal is one of my favorite buys today at just 17 times forward earnings.
Josh Kohn-Lindquist has positions in DLocal. The Motley Fool recommends DLocal and recommends the following options: long January 2027 $7 calls on DLocal and short January 2027 $10 calls on DLocal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of KLAR 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 (other than from Seeking Alpha). 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 as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above 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. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Sandisk (SNDK +5.68%) has been the top-performing S&P 500 stock so far this year. It's up by around 600%, easily outperforming the second-place performer, Dell, which is up by around 240%. So unless another stock emerges with a massive new tailwind or something catastrophic happens to Sandisk's business, I think it may have already locked up the title of 2026's best-performing stock. Moreover, I don't think it's done yet.
Despite a jaw-dropping run over the past year, the stock still looks pretty cheap. The question is, does it deserve to be?
Image source: The Motley Fool.
The memory chip market is cyclical Sandisk makes NAND memory, which is non-volatile memory often used for storing information long term in solid-state drives (SSDs). AI data centers use a lot of SSDs, and the rapid infrastructure build-out has boosted Sandisk's business over the past year. However, demand for NAND memory is far greater than supply, which has caused prices to soar. This is also why storage for consumer devices has increased in price.
This combination has caused Sandisk's revenue and profits to skyrocket, and these conditions could continue for a while.
SNDK EPS Diluted (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts.
For the company's recently ended fiscal 2026 fourth quarter, Wall Street analysts expect it to report 337% revenue growth. For fiscal 2027, they expect 143% growth. Those are remarkable growth rates extended over a long time frame, and it would be understandable for investors to be excited about the future of the stock. But is it actually cheap?
Today, Sandisk trades for a mere 9.4 times forward earnings.
SNDK PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts
Most stocks in the AI space trade for 20 to 30 times forward earnings, and some carry even greater premiums. If Sandisk rose to those levels, the stock would double or triple from here. However, there's a catch: The memory chip market is cyclical.
What will happen if demand decreases or if enough new production capacity comes online that supply and demand come back into balance? Or what if the shortage becomes a glut?
Today's astronomical memory chip prices would decline to normal levels. That would change the investment thesis behind Sandisk's business, and could cause the stock to plummet.
But when might something like that happen? After all, the AI build-out is expected to last for several years more, at a minimum. Most pundits and analysts point toward 2030 as the soonest it might end.
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One memory chip maker, Micron (MU +5.21%), offered a projection a while back: It stated the memory chip market's growth could persist beyond 2027, which means that Samsung stock should have at least one more year of strong growth left, if not more.
I think that makes Sandisk stock a worthy investment, but shareholders will need to monitor memory chip market conditions to ensure that prices are staying elevated.
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
Shares of SK Hynix (NASDAQ:SKHY) are up 19% to $181.67 on Tuesday afternoon, as newly launched U.S. leveraged single-stock ETFs tied to the Korean memory giant pull in heavy volume and amplify moves in the stock. The rally is a mirror image of Monday’s memory selloff, when the complex fell on SK Hynix’s weaker Q2 estimate out of Seoul.
The move caps a volatile stretch. SK Hynix just completed a $28 billion Nasdaq ADR debut last week, billed as the largest ADR listing in U.S. history. The stock has whipsawed since, opening sharply higher, dropping Monday alongside Asia, and now snapping back today.
The broader market is cooperating. The NASDAQ 100 is up 1% after Tuesday’s cooler-than-expected June CPI, feeding a risk-on bid across chips and memory names.
Leveraged ETF Launches Fuel the Surge The concrete catalyst is a wave of geared single-stock products. GraniteShares launched GraniteShares 2x Long SK hynix Daily ETF (NASDAQ:SKUU) and GraniteShares 2x Short SK hynix Daily ETF (NASDAQ:SKDD), while ProShares rolled out ProShares Ultra SK hynix (NYSEARCA:SKHU), a 2x long single-stock ETF.
Options positioning in SKHY leans two-sided, with a full-chain put/call ratio of 0.98, suggesting hedging into the surge rather than one-way call chasing.
Note that SKHU, SKUU, and SKDD are daily-reset, geared, single-stock ETFs designed only for short-term trading. Per their own disclosures, they suffer compounding and volatility decay, can lose money even if SKHY rises over periods longer than a day, and an investor can lose their full principal in a single day. Treat them as speculative trading tools, not buy-and-hold positions, since forced daily rebalancing can itself add to the volatility retail traders are chasing.
Peers Follow the Move Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU | MU Price Prediction) shares are up 5%, extending a run that took Micron stock up 229% year to date (YTD) through Monday’s close. Micron’s fiscal Q3 2026 revenue hit $41.46 billion with non-GAAP EPS of $25.11, and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra cited the “strategic value of memory in the AI era.”
July 16 is the Final Day to Tap Into the Lithium Boom (sponsor)
General Motors, POSCO, and 50,000+ everyday investors have already backed lithium producer EnergyX.
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SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) shares are up 4%, and Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) shares are up 1%.
The Roundhill Memory ETF (CBOE:DRAM), a sector proxy, is up 6%. The Roundhill fund isn’t leveraged, but it’s a narrow, volatile thematic vehicle with heavy concentration in Samsung Electronics (25%), SK hynix (24%), and Micron (24%).
Bull and Bear Case for SK Hynix The bull case is straightforward. SK Hynix holds a dominant position in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), it’s a critical NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) supplier, and the AI memory upcycle still has runway. A Polymarket same-day directional book on Micron sits at a 95% probability of an “Up” close on July 14, reflecting broad conviction across the memory complex.
The bear case is real. SKHY trades against a limited U.S. float, and leveraged-ETF-driven demand can push the stock to a premium versus the Seoul-listed shares. That gap can snap back quickly, and memory remains a cyclical industry.
What to Watch Now The key tell is whether SK Hynix stock holds its gains into the close and whether trading volume in the SKHU ETF builds through the afternoon. Follow-through in Micron, SanDisk, and Western Digital shares would confirm that the sector rotation is more than a one-day squeeze tied to the ETF launches.
Investors sizing there SK Hynix exposure here may want to keep their positions modest. The combination of a fresh ADR, a thin float, and new leveraged wrappers on the same name is a recipe for outsized swings in both directions for SK Hynix stock. Watch for whether the ADR’s premium to the Seoul listing widens or begins to close as arbitrage flows arrive.
Meet America's Newest $1b Unicorn (Sponsor) A US startup just passed a $1 billion private valuation, joining billion-dollar private companies like OpenAI and ByteDance. Unlike those other unicorns, you can invest in EnergyX right now; but only until July 16.
Over 50,000 people already have, along with global giants like General Motors and POSCO.
Here's why there's so much interest: EnergyX's patented tech can recover up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods. That's a big deal, as demand for lithium is expected to 5X current production levels by 2040. Become an early-stage EnergyX shareholder before the 7/16 investment deadline.
POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) trades at $8.46, well off its 52-week high of $20.81. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for POET is $22.23, implying 162.86% upside over the next 12 months.
We rate the stock a buy, with a 50% confidence level. Confidence is deliberately moderate: this is a pre-revenue photonics story with a big TAM, real customer wins, and equally real governance and execution risks.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $8.46 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $22.23 Upside 162.86% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 50% From a May Blowoff to a Litigation-Driven Reset POET is up 26.38% year to date, but shares are down 10.61% in the past week and 36.15% in the past month after peaking near $20 in May.
Q1 FY26 revenue rose 201.9% year over year to $503,389, beating estimates by 44.66%, though EPS came in at -$0.08, missing expectations. The bigger story was the Lumilens supply agreement with an initial $50 million purchase order and potential to scale beyond $500 million over five years.
Sentiment deteriorated on multiple class action filings tied to PFIC tax disclosures and the cancellation of Celestial AI purchase orders. Offsetting that, Citadel disclosed a 5.1% to 5.9% stake and Jane Street a 6.8% stake, signaling institutional conviction into the drawdown.
The Case for $22 and Beyond The bull case rests on manufacturing conversion. Management guided to shipping more than 30,000 optical engines in 2026, with high-volume light source production in Q2 and 800G engines in Q3 from Malaysia.
CEO Suresh Venkatesan called the Lumilens deal “an important commercial milestone… establishing the framework for what we believe could become a substantial long-term supplier relationship supporting frontier AI infrastructure.”
With approximately $430 million in cash, POET is funded to execute. Exposure to a $9.8 billion 800G transceiver market by 2032 at 22.8% CAGR gives the bull scenario oxygen. Our bull case one-year target is $22.89.
July 16 is the Final Day to Tap Into the Lithium Boom (sponsor)
General Motors, POSCO, and 50,000+ everyday investors have already backed lithium producer EnergyX.
Here's why you should do the same before their July 16 investment deadline: lithium prices are up 75% this year, with demand projected to grow a staggering 5X by 2040.
With tech that can recover up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods, EnergyX is preparing to unlock up to 15M+ tons. Become a private-stage EnergyX investor before the July 16 deadline.
What Could Go Wrong POET carries an accumulated deficit of roughly $291 million and a material weakness in internal controls identified in the 2024 audit. Multiple securities class actions have been filed.
Bulls counter that Q4 FY25’s $42.67 million net loss was driven largely by a $30.69 million non-cash warrant fair value adjustment, a non-operating item, and the planned U.S. redomiciliation eliminates the PFIC overhang. Still, our bear case target of $16.61 assumes ramp slippage and lingering legal drag.
How POET Compares to Lumentum and Coherent Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE | LITE Price Prediction) is a direct optical peer and the go-to benchmark for commercial scale. Lumentum operates at meaningful commercial scale with multibillion-dollar annual revenue and positive non-GAAP EPS. Its market cap sits near $60 billion versus POET at $1.46 billion. That gap is exactly the bull thesis on POET and the execution mountain the target implies.
Coherent (NYSE:COHR) offers a valuation contrast. Coherent generates multibillion-dollar quarterly revenue, has secured a significant strategic investment from NVIDIA, and joined the S&P 500. Its scaled cash flow makes POET’s pre-revenue multiple look demanding. Against these two, our $22.23 target looks reasonable given POET’s small base and optionality on the Lumilens ramp.
POET Price Prediction 2026-2030 The 24/7 Wall St. price target for POET is $22.23, a buy rating at 50% confidence. The tipping factor is the H2 2026 Malaysia ramp: if 800G engines and light source shipments land on schedule, re-rating is likely. The setup favors accumulation on weakness if Q2 shows shipments tracking toward the 30,000-unit target. Caution is warranted if class actions escalate or redomiciliation slips.
Our model projects POET could trade if execution holds:
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $22.23 2027 $34.00 2028 $52.00 2029 $78.00 2030 $125.44 These projections assume POET converts its pipeline into recurring revenue and clears its governance overhang. Significant upside could come from a full Lumilens $500 million ramp; downside would follow ramp delays or dilutive capital raises.
Meet America's Newest $1b Unicorn (Sponsor) A US startup just passed a $1 billion private valuation, joining billion-dollar private companies like OpenAI and ByteDance. Unlike those other unicorns, you can invest in EnergyX right now; but only until July 16.
Over 50,000 people already have, along with global giants like General Motors and POSCO.
Here's why there's so much interest: EnergyX's patented tech can recover up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods. That's a big deal, as demand for lithium is expected to 5X current production levels by 2040. Become an early-stage EnergyX shareholder before the 7/16 investment deadline.
, /PRNewswire/ -- The Gross Law Firm issues the following notice to shareholders of Futu Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: FUTU).
Shareholders who purchased shares of FUTU during the class period listed are encouraged to contact the firm regarding possible lead plaintiff appointment. Appointment as lead plaintiff is not required to partake in any recovery.
ALLEGATIONS: The complaint alleges that during the class period, Defendants issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Futu was not in compliance with the requirements of the China securities regulatory commission, including because the Company continued to conduct securities business, public fund sales business and futures business in mainland China without obtaining the requisite licenses or approval; (2) as a result, Futu was reasonably likely to face regulatory penalties, including the disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and other penalties; (3) as a result of the foregoing, Futu's financial results were overstated; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
DEADLINE: August 25, 2026 Shareholders should not delay in registering for this class action. Register your information here: https://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/futu-holdings-limited-loss-submission-form/?id=193597&from=4
NEXT STEPS FOR SHAREHOLDERS: Once you register as a shareholder who purchased shares of FUTU during the timeframe listed above, you will be enrolled in a portfolio monitoring software to provide you with status updates throughout the lifecycle of the case. The deadline to seek to be a lead plaintiff is August 25, 2026. There is no cost or obligation to you to participate in this case.
WHY GROSS LAW FIRM? The Gross Law Firm is a nationally recognized class action law firm, and our mission is to protect the rights of all investors who have suffered as a result of deceit, fraud, and illegal business practices. The Gross Law Firm is committed to ensuring that companies adhere to responsible business practices and engage in good corporate citizenship. The firm seeks recovery on behalf of investors who incurred losses when false and/or misleading statements or the omission of material information by a company lead to artificial inflation of the company's stock. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
The Gross Law Firm
15 West 38th Street, 12th floor
New York, NY, 10018
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (646) 453-8903
Key Takeaways BMRN's sNDA seeking full Voxzogo approval in achondroplasia was accepted for FDA review.BMRN received accelerated FDA approval for Voxzogo in 2021 and now seeks traditional approval.FDA decision is due on Feb. 28, 2027; Voxzogo may become the first achondroplasia drug to get traditional nod. BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN - Free Report) announced that the FDA has accepted the supplemental new drug application (sNDA) seeking full approval for Voxzogo (vosoritide) in children with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism.
With the FDA accepting the sNDA for review, a decision from the regulatory body is expected on Feb. 28, 2027.
Voxzogo received an accelerated approval from the FDA in 2021 to treat children of all ages with achondroplasia. The drug is approved for similar indications in Europe, Japan and Australia.
The latest sNDA, which seeks to convert Voxzogo’s accelerated approval into full/traditional approval, is based on long-term safety and efficacy data from three ongoing studies, comprising adult height and additional clinical outcomes beyond linear growth, including body proportionality and arm span, evaluated over long-term follow-up.
Per management, if approved, Voxzogo would become the first therapy for achondroplasia to convert from accelerated to traditional approval based on comprehensive clinical data, including adult height outcomes and other measures assessed over an extended follow-up period.
BMRN’s Stock PerformanceYear to date, shares of BioMarin have lost 0.4% against the industry’s increase of 4.1%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
BMRN Banks on Voxzogo Amid Growing RivalrySince its launch, Voxzogo has seen rapid uptake, driven by strong prescription demand. BioMarin expects to generate $0.98-$1.03 billion from Voxzogo sales in 2026.
BioMarin is also evaluating Voxzogo in the phase III CANOPY-HCH-3 study for a potential second indication, hypochondroplasia, which is generally considered to be a milder form of achondroplasia. In May 2026, the company reported positive data from this study, which achieved its primary and key secondary endpoints. Based on these results, BioMarin expects to submit a regulatory filing with the FDA in the third quarter of 2026.
If approved, the label expansion could broaden the drug’s addressable market opportunity.
However, the achondroplasia treatment market is becoming increasingly competitive.
In February 2026, the FDA approved Ascendis Pharma’s (ASND - Free Report) Yuviwel for achondroplasia, marking the first direct competitor to Voxzogo. Before the approval of ASND’s Yuviwel, Voxzogo was the only FDA-approved therapy for the condition.
Meanwhile, BridgeBio Pharma (BBIO - Free Report) is preparing to submit a regulatory filing to the FDA in the third quarter of 2026 for its investigational achondroplasia candidate, infigratinib. If approved, BBIO expects a potential launch for infigratinib in early to mid-2027.
Amid increasing competition, the successful development and potential label expansion of Voxzogo into additional indications could meaningfully strengthen BioMarin's long-term growth prospects.
BMRN’s Zacks RankBioMarin currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Investors interested in Computer and Technology stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has ams-OSRAM AG Unsponsored ADR (AMSSY - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
ams-OSRAM AG Unsponsored ADR is one of 613 individual stocks in the Computer and Technology sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. ams-OSRAM AG Unsponsored ADR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMSSY's full-year earnings has moved 128.6% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, AMSSY has moved about 130.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Computer and Technology group have gained about 14.7% on average. This means that ams-OSRAM AG Unsponsored ADR is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
One other Computer and Technology stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - Free Report) . The stock is up 149.5% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Advanced Micro Devices' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, ams-OSRAM AG Unsponsored ADR belongs to the Electronics - Semiconductors industry, a group that includes 50 individual companies and currently sits at #43 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 43.2% this year, meaning that AMSSY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
Advanced Micro Devices, however, belongs to the Computer - Integrated Systems industry. Currently, this 11-stock industry is ranked #6. The industry has moved +115.3% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Computer and Technology stocks should continue to pay close attention to ams-OSRAM AG Unsponsored ADR and Advanced Micro Devices as they could maintain their solid performance.
Global conflicts have a way of reshaping investment stories overnight. Companies once viewed as pure technology or growth plays can suddenly find themselves caught between governments, militaries, and international diplomacy. That doesn’t necessarily change their long-term prospects, but it does change the risks investors need to price in.
SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) has spent years building one of the world’s most valuable businesses through launch services and Starlink satellite internet. Now, the company is facing a challenge that has little to do with engineering and everything to do with geopolitics.
Iran’s Threat Changes The Conversation According to CNBC, citing Iran’s state-affiliated Fars News Agency, Tehran now considers all of Elon Musk’s companies operating in the Middle East to be military targets as retaliation against the U.S. The statement specifically identified SpaceX’s Starlink infrastructure, including a regional ground station, because of its alleged support for U.S. and Israeli military operations.
To put that into perspective, SpaceX is no longer just a commercial launch provider. Through Starlink, it has become a critical communications platform for governments, militaries, businesses, and emergency responders around the world. That dual-use nature — serving both civilian and defense customers — increasingly places the company alongside traditional defense contractors whenever geopolitical tensions rise.
Ironically, that’s also one reason investors have been so enthusiastic about SpaceX. Government demand tends to be durable.
Company Primary Business Key Competitive Strength SpaceX Launch services, Starlink broadband Lowest launch costs and largest satellite network Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB | RKLB Price Prediction) Small satellite launches Dedicated launch services for smaller payloads Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Project Kuiper Satellite broadband Backed by Amazon’s financial resources Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Satellite communications Established commercial and government customers Granted, Iran’s announcement does not mean attacks will occur, nor does it suggest SpaceX’s global operations face an immediate disruption. Most of the company’s critical manufacturing and launch facilities remain in the U.S.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and SpaceX didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
That said, geopolitical threats create costs even when nothing happens. Companies may face higher insurance expenses, additional security investments, operational contingencies, or delays expanding infrastructure in sensitive regions. Those are risks investors rarely model until they become unavoidable.
The Investment Thesis Hasn’t Broken Surprisingly, the same factors drawing geopolitical attention are also reinforcing SpaceX’s competitive advantages.
Governments increasingly rely on commercial space companies rather than building every capability internally. That trend has expanded SpaceX’s addressable market across defense launches, satellite communications, and intelligence services. In many respects, becoming strategically important strengthens long-term demand even as it introduces new political risks.
The key difference for investors is that SpaceX should no longer be viewed solely as a high-growth technology company. It increasingly resembles a hybrid of a technology platform, aerospace leader, and defense contractor.
Key Takeaway In short, Iran’s threat adds another layer of uncertainty, but it doesn’t fundamentally alter SpaceX’s long-term investment case. Investors should recognize that geopolitical exposure is now part of the company’s business model, just as it is for many major defense firms.
Regardless, SpaceX’s dominant launch position, Starlink’s expanding customer base, and growing government relationships remain the primary drivers of its long-term value. The headlines may grow more unsettling, but unless those risks begin affecting revenue, contracts, or operations, they are unlikely to outweigh the company’s powerful competitive advantages.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and SpaceX didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
Since Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX +1.34%) debuted on the stock market on June 12, it has been on a rollercoaster ride. SpaceX, as it is better known, saw an expected jump in its first couple of trading days because of what was clearly high demand for the stock, but it is now down over 28% from its June 16 high (as of the July 13 market open).
SpaceX's stock is likely to be a roller-coaster ride for the foreseeable future, but investors are now getting exposure to it through one of the market's most popular ETFs. Some investors appreciate the newly added holding, while others aren't too keen. In either case, does SpaceX's addition position it to be one of the best ETFs to hold this year?
Image source: The Motley Fool.
The Nasdaq makes a special case The Invesco Nasdaq QQQ ETF (QQQM +0.96%) is now many investors' introduction to SpaceX. The Nasdaq-100 is an index that tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Since SpaceX checks both of those boxes, it's officially in the index -- but much quicker than any other company has before.
Typically, to be included in the Nasdaq-100, a company must have traded for three months and meet trading volume requirements. The Nasdaq changed those requirements to make it easier to usher SpaceX into the index. Now, a company must only trade for 15 days, which made SpaceX eligible for the index on July 6.
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141.01
Where will SpaceX fit in the Nasdaq-100? Although QQQM isn't a pure-play tech ETF, it's dominated by tech companies. Here are its top 10 holdings as of July 10:
Rank/CompanyPercentage of QQQM Portfolio1. Nvidia8.01%2. Apple7.27%3. Micron Technology4.79%4. Microsoft4.49%5. Amazon4.14%6. Advanced Micro Devices3.94%7. Alphabet (Class A)3.27%8. Tesla3.20%9. Meta Platforms3.11%10. Alphabet (Class C)3.04% Data source: Invesco.
As of market open on July 13, SpaceX is the sixth-most-valuable company on this list, but it won't be weighted that way. The weighting is based on a company's float (shares available to the general public), and since SpaceX's is very small right now (around 4%), it won't jump ahead of companies like Tesla and Meta, which have lower market caps. SpaceX's percentage in QQQM is currently 1.21%.
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Is QQQM the best investment of 2026? SpaceX aside, QQQM is one of the best ETFs if you're looking for lots of tech exposure without being fully dependent on the sector. It's 68.5% tech stocks, so there's still a slight hedge if the sector hits a rough period, which isn't far-fetched considering how expensive tech stocks have become.
If we're only using performance to define the "best" investment this year, then QQQM likely won't be the winner. So far, though, it's up 18.3%, which is still a great return.
If you're looking for an ETF that can consistently outperform the market over the long run, then QQQM should be right up your alley. It has historically done so and is built to continue doing so (though nothing is guaranteed in the stock market). Let that be the reason you invest, not because of SpaceX's new entry.
Stefon Walters has positions in Apple and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Nasdaq. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Evercore ISI has launched coverage on SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) with an Outperform rating and a $230 price target, adding a high-profile bull voice just as the newly public shares cool off. The call lands with the stock down 13.27% over the past week and 13.55% over the past month, giving retirement-focused investors a fresh institutional data point to weigh against near-term volatility. The takeaway: Wall Street is beginning to formalize a long-duration bull case on SpaceX stock even after its post-IPO pullback.
Ticker Company Firm Action New Rating New Target SPCX SpaceX Evercore ISI Initiation Outperform $230 The Analyst’s Case Evercore ISI frames SpaceX as “an extraordinary company on a real path to reshaping the future of humanity”, while conceding there is “a great deal left to prove out” and that the feasibility of certain ambitions and timelines can be debated. That balance matters. The firm is signaling conviction with acknowledged execution risk.
The financial spine of the thesis is aggressive with Evercore modeling revenue and EBITDA compounding at 106% and 157% through 2028, and argues growth “can accelerate rather than fade as the decade wears on.” Those are Evercore’s numbers, not ours, but they explain how the firm justifies its $230 target on a stock this large.
Company Snapshot SpaceX is a vertically integrated space, connectivity, and artificial intelligence company founded in 2002. It operates the Falcon and Starship launch systems and, since 2023, has launched more than 80% of the world’s mass to orbit each year. Its Starlink network runs approximately 9,600 satellites in Low-Earth Orbit, serving customers across 164 countries, territories, and other markets. In early 2026, SpaceX acquired xAI, formally adding AI as a business pillar.
Why the Move Matters Now SPCX carries a market capitalization of roughly $1.08 trillion, yet the stock has just given back double digits in short order. A bulge-bracket initiation at Outperform with a $230 target, framed as a standard analyst price target rather than a calendar-year promise, is the kind of signal that can reset the conversation from post-IPO indigestion to structural upside.
Sentiment data reinforces the setup. Our proprietary look at sentiment has Reddit’s weekly read on SPCX sits at 57 (neutral), with recent debate centered on lockup unlocks and emerging launch competition from Japan. A credible bull note gives long-term holders something concrete to anchor to.
What It Means for Your Portfolio For growth focused investors, the Evercore ISI price target raised the ceiling of the visible bull case without erasing the risks the firm itself flagged. SpaceX stock remains a high-volatility, execution-dependent name where Starlink scaling, launch cadence, and xAI integration have to deliver. The analyst upgrade tone here is confident yet risk-aware, and that is the right frame for position sizing. Treat the $230 target as one informed view among several, and let the compounding thesis Evercore laid out be tested by the numbers SpaceX actually reports.
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SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) has given back its post-IPO gains, but the round trip toward the offering price is exactly why I’m sharpening my pencil. The stock priced at $135 on June 12, 2026, popped to an intraday peak of $225.64, and now trades near where it started.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for SpaceX is $259.42, implying roughly 86% upside over the next 12 months. The model’s rating carries moderate confidence.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $139.14 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $259.42 Upside 86.4% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 50% From $225 to $139 in Four Weeks SPCX has fallen 13.55% in the past month and 13.27% in the past week, closing Monday at $139.14 after a 4.24% single-day slide. That puts the stock near the $135 IPO price and roughly 38% below its intraday high.
The Reddit thread “SPCX first major unlock is bigger than the entire IPO float” captures the near-term overhang. Retail is also focused on Japan’s successful rocket landing, which challenged the “competition is years away” thesis. SpaceX pulled in $18.7 billion in 2025 revenue, and the $75 billion raise at a $1.75 trillion valuation left the float thin.
The Case for $282+ Bulls have plenty to work with. Starlink is scaling toward millions of customers across 164 countries from a constellation of roughly 9,600 satellites. The xAI acquisition in early 2026 layered a frontier AI model onto the platform, giving SPCX a seat in the hyperscaler conversation. Jim Cramer noted the combined entity “could be seeking a valuation of over $2 trillion.”
Our bull case points to $282.19 over 12 months, driven by Starlink subscriber growth, Starship cadence, and monetization of satellite-to-mobile coverage across roughly 30 countries. Analyst consensus alone at $242.22 implies 74% upside.
What Could Go Wrong The biggest near-term worry is dilution. Reddit flagged that the first major lockup unlock is “bigger than the entire IPO float,”. Forward EPS of -$0.70 means the market is paying up for a business still spending more than it earns.
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Cramer argued it is “very difficult to justify giving SpaceX a $2 trillion valuation” for a money-losing company. Our bear case pegs downside at $218.04. Bulls counter that those losses reflect heavy capex on Starship, xAI compute, and satellite manufacturing, all of which underpin the multi-year growth story.
How SpaceX Compares to Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB | RKLB Price Prediction) is the cleanest US-listed launch peer. Rocket Lab posted Q1 2026 revenue of $200.35 million (up 63.5% year over year) with backlog at $2.20 billion and a market cap near $44 billion. The stock trades at roughly 55x trailing sales, while SpaceX at $259 would sit closer to 19x its $18.7 billion 2025 revenue. Our target looks conservative on a price-to-sales basis.
AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) is the direct-to-device satellite counterpoint to Starlink. ASTS carries a $21 billion market cap on 2026 revenue guidance of $150 million to $200 million, a triple-digit sales multiple for a pre-commercial network. Starlink already generates a large share of SPCX’s revenue at scale, framing the 24/7 Wall St. price target as reasonable.
Where the Setup Gets Interesting: $135 My line in the sand is the IPO price. At $135, buyers get in flat to the largest institutional book of 2026 with an analyst target implying 74% upside and a 24/7 Wall St. price target of $259.42 pointing higher.
The setup looks constructive if SPCX holds the IPO floor through the lockup window. It looks risky if the stock breaks $130 on heavy volume, signaling the unlock is overwhelming demand. Confidence is moderate at 50%, but the risk/reward at these levels is finally interesting.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $182 2027 $256 2028 $359 2029 $504 2030 $708 These projections assume SpaceX continues scaling Starlink subscribers, executes on Starship cadence, and monetizes xAI. Significant upside or downside could result from lockup dynamics, a Starship setback, or step-change in launch competition.
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Elon Musk has had some pretty exciting, ambitious things to say about the future of Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ:SPCX), but perhaps his more recent comments about the company’s value one day eclipsing the value of Earth itself take the cake for the most shocking and bullish thing he’s said about the space titan, which is pretty much in a space race against itself at this point.
Here come the sky-high price targets With analyst price targets flowing in from across the board, with $800 per-share targets, and a shocking $900 bull target from the likes of Citigroup (NYSE:C | C Price Prediction), questions linger as to whether Elon Musk’s latest words offer anything more than hype. While a valuation north of $11 trillion for SpaceX seems outrageous, I certainly wouldn’t count it out if Elon Musk manages to make orbital data centers and other emerging space-based businesses work.
From space tourism to asteroid mining, it’s pretty easy to dismiss such potential ventures as nothing more than a work of science fiction. Then again, the company is shooting to take the fiction out of science fiction, so I get why so many investors are more than willing to give Elon Musk the benefit of the doubt in these earlier days.
Between the Elon Musk fans who just need to have a piece and growth investors who are feeling a sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), the case for buying in spite of the questionable valuation metrics is quite strong. But even the most exciting company in the world can be a bad bet if one overpays.
If orbital data centers don’t work out in a timeline the market deems as acceptable, it’s hard to tell just where SpaceX shares could find themselves. Can a crash-landing be ruled out? I’m not so sure, but the bull case, in my view, is the reason to make the leap of faith with the name.
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Maybe not more than Earth, but a $10-12 trillion valuation can’t be ruled out Of course, it’s hard to tell how serious Elon Musk was when he brought up the possibility of the company being more than the rest of the Earth combined. The math doesn’t quite add up, even in a bull-case scenario, like the one outlined by Citi. If we’re talking about the next few centuries, though, perhaps anything is possible. But, of course, not all that many investors will probably want to hang onto a stock for that long!
In my view, $10-12 trillion might be the ceiling for the shares. As a part of Citi’s bull case, Starship needs to get going and be at full scale. It’ll also need SpaceX to floor it with Starlink and orbital data centers to achieve an untouchable monopoly (or a near-monopoly).
Add the AI factor into the equation, and the potential for a Moon base with robot workers and a railgun to launch spacecraft from a lunar landing, sure, I suppose SpaceX could have quite a ways to go from here, as the company looks to capture that sky-high total addressable market (TAM) the firm outlined.
The bottom line While I’ll admit that shares are starting to look more tempting as they make a round trip back to the $135 per-share IPO price, I do think that SpaceX is a super-high-risk/high-reward kind of proposition that’s only fit for true believers of Elon Musk.
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Apple (AAPL - Free Report) has been one of the most searched-for stocks on Zacks.com lately. So, you might want to look at some of the facts that could shape the stock's performance in the near term.
Over the past month, shares of this maker of iPhones, iPads and other products have returned +7.1%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.3% change. During this period, the Zacks Computer - Micro Computers industry, which Apple falls in, has gained 8.9%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?
While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.
Revisions to Earnings EstimatesHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.
We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
Apple is expected to post earnings of $1.88 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +19.8%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged.
For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $8.74 points to a change of +17.2% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has remained unchanged.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $9.57 indicates a change of +9.5% from what Apple is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.2%.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Apple.
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Projected Revenue GrowthEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
For Apple, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $108.71 billion indicates a year-over-year change of +15.6%. For the current and next fiscal years, $478.19 billion and $517.77 billion estimates indicate +14.9% and +8.3% changes, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryApple reported revenues of $111.18 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +16.6%. EPS of $2.01 for the same period compares with $1.65 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $109.48 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +1.55%. The EPS surprise was +4.69%.
The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationWithout considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.
Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.
The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which pays close attention to both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics to grade stocks from A to F (an A is better than a B; a B is better than a C; and so on), is pretty helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Apple is graded F on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
Bottom LineThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Apple. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
Apple AAPL stock fell around 1% on Tuesday after KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded the iPhone maker, citing slowing hardware demand, weaker growth expectations, and valuation concerns despite the stock's strong performance over the past year.
Shares declined about 1.7% to $311.91 on Tuesday after analyst Brandon Nispel cut his rating on the stock to Underweight from Sector Weight.
He also assigned a $250 price target, implying roughly 21% downside from Monday's closing price.
The downgrade comes as Wall Street remains broadly positive on Apple, with several analysts maintaining bullish ratings and higher price targets.
The stock recovered some of the losses and was trading down 0.46% at the time of writing.
In a research note, Nispel said KeyBanc's spending checks pointed to "another month of below-trend growth" for Apple in June, adding that growth was beginning to fade after receiving a boost in 2025.
The analyst highlighted sluggish iPhone sales, weaker demand for Macs and iPads, and the potential impact those trends could have on Apple's higher-margin services business, including iCloud and Apple Music.
Nispel also argued that the company's valuation leaves little room for disappointment.
He wrote that the combination of slowing hardware demand and softer services growth would make the stock appear "too expensive."
Apple currently trades at about 36 times expected fiscal 2026 earnings, above both its five-year historical average and the broader S&P 500.
According to Nispel's analysis, June indexed hardware spending fell 2% month over month, compared with a three-year average growth rate of 9%, suggesting US demand has normalized following last year's tariff-driven surge.
He also expects slower iPhone production, weaker upgrade activity in the United States, and reduced device subsidies to weigh on future growth.
In his view, consensus forecasts for iPhone, Mac, iPad, Wearables and Services through 2027 are too optimistic and could require downward revisions.
Despite the downgrade, Apple continues to enjoy broad support from analysts.
The stock has gained 1.4% over the past week, 6.4% over the past month and 51% over the past year.
Wall Street currently maintains a Moderate Buy consensus, with an average 12-month price target of $327.20.
Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring reiterated his Buy rating and maintained a $360 price target.
Woodring said Apple's pricing power remains a key advantage, arguing that demand for major products remains resilient even as prices increase.
He said, "demand for key devices such as the iPhone, Mac, and iPad is relatively insensitive to price changes, allowing Apple to raise prices without materially weakening unit demand, while also protecting margins as component costs rise."
He also expects higher iPhone pricing and new AI-focused products to support earnings growth over the coming years.
Price increases and future growth remain in focusApple announced in late June that it would increase prices for MacBooks and iPads as memory component costs continue to rise.
Woodring believes upcoming iPhone price increases, combined with Apple's product roadmap featuring new form factors and AI-enhanced user experiences, could lift both near-term and fiscal 2027 earnings per share.
Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani also maintained a Buy rating on Apple and set a $365 price target.
For the past two years, investors have measured the artificial intelligence race by one metric above all others: spending. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) are collectively on pace to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure this year, betting that bigger data centers and more powerful chips will translate into long-term dominance.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), by comparison, looked like the odd company out. It avoided the AI spending arms race, rolled out Apple Intelligence at a measured pace, and has yet to deliver the fully capable AI-powered Siri it promised. Yet the market is beginning to rethink that narrative.
Apple is the best-performing Magnificent Seven stock year to date, suggesting investors are starting to recognize that winning AI may depend less on building the biggest model than on controlling how consumers actually use it.
Apple Is Playing a Different AI Game Unlike the hyperscalers, Apple isn’t spending tens of billions of dollars building frontier AI models. Instead, it is positioning itself as the gateway through which consumers interact with AI every day.
At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the company introduced App Intents, the framework allowing Siri to perform actions inside apps instead of simply answering questions. Booking a reservation, buying products, scheduling appointments, or completing tasks could eventually happen through a simple voice command rather than manually opening an app.
Ironically, Apple may not need the best AI model if it owns the customer relationship. Rather than competing head-to-head with ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or future models, Apple could become an AI traffic controller, routing requests to whichever model is fastest, cheapest, or most capable for a given task while keeping sensitive information processed locally on-device whenever possible.
That approach also aligns with Apple’s longstanding emphasis on privacy.
If agentic AI becomes the preferred way consumers interact with technology — asking Siri to complete purchases, manage schedules, and coordinate digital tasks automatically — it creates a compelling reason to upgrade hardware, not simply download another app.
That’s an important distinction because Apple’s business has always been strongest when software innovation drives hardware sales.
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Granted, Apple’s enhanced Siri remains unfinished. The vision has been outlined, but execution still lies ahead. Investors shouldn’t confuse the roadmap with a guaranteed outcome.
Apple Could Become The Toll Booth For Consumer AI Surprisingly, Apple’s greatest AI opportunity may have little to do with selling smartphones. If intelligent agents become the primary interface between consumers and digital services, Apple already owns the hardware ecosystem where those interactions occur across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision products.
That opens the door to new revenue streams through premium AI subscriptions, transaction fees when AI agents complete purchases, or partnerships with multiple AI providers. Instead of competing against every AI company, Apple could benefit from all of them.
It’s a strategy that resembles the App Store playbook. Apple didn’t invent most mobile apps, but it built the platform that connected developers with consumers.
Agentic AI could become the next version of that ecosystem.
Key Takeaway In short, Apple’s AI strategy has often been criticized because it hasn’t matched rivals dollar for dollar in AI infrastructure spending. Yet investors may have been looking at the wrong scoreboard.
If AI ultimately becomes something consumers use through personal assistants instead of standalone chatbots, Apple already controls the devices where those interactions are most likely to occur. Morgan Stanley’s estimate that 1.3 billion iPhones cannot support the next-generation Siri also hints at what could become the largest hardware refresh cycle in the company’s history.
That said, execution remains the biggest risk. Apple still must deliver the intelligent Siri it has promised. Until it does, the investment case rests on potential rather than proven results.
Ultimately, if Apple succeeds, skipping the AI capital spending race may prove to be one of the smartest investments it never made.
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Item 1 of 2 A woman walks by the Meta Lab in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 20, 2026. REUTERS/Daniel Cole
[1/2]A woman walks by the Meta Lab in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 20, 2026. REUTERS/Daniel Cole Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
SummaryCompaniesThe 26 plaintiffs seek a court order blocking layoffs set to start on July 22Meta said the claims lack merit and people made workforce decisions, not AILawsuit says Meta used productivity scores and AI token usage in layoff selectionsJuly 14 (Reuters) - Twenty-six employees of Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab have filed a novel lawsuit accusing the tech giant of using AI-powered software that disproportionately targeted people with disabilities or who took medical leave in selecting workers for mass layoffs.
The lawsuit, filed in Oakland, California, federal court late Monday, says that the company relied on factors such as productivity and AI token usage when it slashed thousands of jobs earlier this year, disadvantaging people who missed work because of medical conditions or to care for family members.
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The plaintiffs, who were notified in May that their jobs would be eliminated starting on July 22, are seeking a preliminary ruling from the court blocking Meta from completing the layoffs while they pursue their claims in private arbitration. The workers say Meta's agreements require employees to arbitrate workplace disputes individually, but do not apply to requests for temporary relief.
A Meta spokesperson on Tuesday said the claims lack merit.
"Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI," the spokesperson said.
The lawsuit appears to be the first against a major U.S. company to challenge the alleged use of AI in conducting layoffs.
Meta laid off 10% of its global workforce in May, or nearly 8,000 people, and was planning more job cuts later this year, Reuters had reported. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has since said that he does not expect any more company-wide layoffs this year.
The changes are part of a far-reaching overhaul as the company increases its AI investments and centers AI agents in both its product offerings and its approach to work internally.
The 26 plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, are accusing Meta of violating federal and state laws that ban discrimination or retaliation against workers who have disabilities, take medical leave or are pregnant. They also claim that Meta failed to test its AI systems for bias in violation of recently adopted California and New York City laws.
The plaintiffs come from six states, including California and New York, and the District of Columbia.
According to the complaint, Meta used a number of internal AI-assisted systems to score and rank employees on a termination list. Those included "Metamate," a large language model assistant; an employee-trained "second brain" that tracked workers' communications and documents; and a productivity score drawn from scanning keystrokes, screen content, emails and browser history, according to the lawsuit.
Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Alexia Garamfalvi and Mark Porter
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Dan Wiessner (@danwiessner) reports on labor and employment and immigration law, including litigation and policy making. He can be reached at [email protected].
Neocloud companies CoreWeave (CRWV 3.89%) and Nebius (NBIS 6.17%) each have major deals with Meta Platforms (META +0.11%). While the social media giant is still building out its own data center footprint, it has also secured leases with CoreWeave and Nebius to gain access to additional computing power in the meantime. It's doing this to give itself the best shot at developing an artificial intelligence model that can rival those produced by the other AI hyperscalers.
However, recent news suggests that Meta's approach could be changing, and that possibility ignited a sell-off in Nebius and CoreWeave's stocks. CoreWeave is now down by 35% from its 2026 high, and Nebius is down by nearly 25%. So, what caused these stocks to crater? Word that Meta plans to launch its own cloud computing service.
Image source: Getty Images.
The worrisome reason Meta is launching a cloud platform Of the big four AI hyperscalers, Meta Platforms is the only one without a cloud computing platform. The basics of the cloud business are straightforward: Owners build out excess computing capacity and then rent that computing power to various clients. That business model has become even more vital during the AI boom. Few companies have the resources necessary to build AI data centers, as they're incredibly expensive.
The market has been fairly patient with the big three cloud computing providers' build-out plans because investors can see how those investments will directly translate into revenue growth. However, Meta has been using all of its computing capacity on internal efforts that don't produce returns on investment that are as easily measurable. Because of this, the market has always been more skeptical about Meta's enormous capex budgets.
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Creating a cloud computing business has never been a top priority for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and he stated that the company would consider forming one only if it had excess computing capacity that it wasn't using for internal needs. As of early June, he claimed Meta did not have that spare capacity. However, recent reports allege that Meta is taking steps to form a cloud computing business, which could transform how the market views the stock.
But it also raises questions about the future of Nebius and CoreWeave.
Does Meta need the neoclouds' computing capacity anymore? Earlier this year, Nebius announced a five-year partnership under which it will provide $12 billion in dedicated capacity to Meta Platforms. The deal also included the possibility of it leasing another $15 billion in computing capacity from clusters that Nebius has not yet brought online. That's a huge deal for a company of Nebius' size, and it was a big reason why the stock has rallied this year. CoreWeave signed a similar $14 billion deal with Meta last year.
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The reason Meta inked those deals was to gain access to as much computing capacity as possible, as quickly as possible. If it concludes that it actually has too much computing capacity, but decides that it doesn't want to build a cloud computing business, then Meta could cut ties with these two neoclouds and potentially regain the resources it needs for its AI demands. However, I doubt that will happen.
The reality is that AI computing capacity is supply-constrained right now, and having the right to more of it is a bigger advantage. Plus, if Meta's personal superintelligence AI model eventually becomes a hit and is tied into its AI glasses, the company could need a lot of the AI computing power it has already contracted for. Just because Meta has more computing capacity than it needs right now doesn't mean it won't need all of it in the future.
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Because of that, I think CoreWeave and Nebius are still OK investments; they're just a little less safe than they were a few months ago. These two are booming cloud businesses, and even if Meta backs out of its deals with them, they will likely be able to find customers who do want that computing capacity.
In a recent interview, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said he can see a time in the future, perhaps only a year or two, when putting limits on Meta employees’ AI token spend will become necessary.
“I think that you can imagine, at least in a year or two … that the burn rate of a strong engineer might be the same as their salary, or their cost of employment. And in that world, you’re going to probably need to put in some caps,” the Meta executive said, while speaking on Lenny’s Podcast.
AI token spend, a reference to the cost of processing AI prompts and responses, has been a much-buzzed-about subject in recent days. Meta shut down an internal AI token spend leaderboard after AI costs put the company on track for billions of dollars in 2026.
Meta is not alone in rethinking its approach to AI experimentation. Uber also had an AI reckoning after it blew through its 2026 AI coding budget by April. Soaring token costs saw Microsoft cancel Claude Code licenses, consolidating its engineers around its own Copilot CLI tool instead.
Mosseri’s belief, he explained, is that AI token costs will have to be managed just like any other resource, offering an analogy to things like payroll or operating expenditure (OpEx), which is the day-to-day costs of running a business.
“I think of it like…any other resource,” Mosseri said. “I have to decide how to deploy capacity to my different teams because I have a limited number of GPUs and CPUs and storage and RAM etc. I have to decide how to deploy OpEx for labeling budgets across my teams. I have to decide how to deploy payroll for headcount across my teams.”
Token budgets will be the same, he added, noting that the cap per engineer would have to be proportional to the company’s trust in their ability to use the budget in an “ROI-positive” way.
Meta doesn’t currently have token caps for any employee, Mosseri said, but he believes that their use could be healthy in the future. Further down the road, he expects token costs to come down as the AI model makers enter a pricing war to attract people to use their tools over their competitors.
For now, the company has managed to rein in its token costs a bit by shutting down the “silly things” that it was doing, Mosseri noted — like that token spend leaderboard.
“It’s not that hard to build a token incinerator, and that doesn’t create a lot of value,” he said.
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Tesla (TSLA +0.43%) and Meta Platforms (META +0.11%) are two of the stock market's largest technology companies, with similar-sized market caps of roughly $1.5 trillion and $1.7 trillion, respectively. Their high-profile CEOs, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, make both companies must-watch stories, especially as they stake their futures on artificial intelligence (AI).
That's where the similarities end. For Tesla, AI is the key to unlocking ambitious growth potential in autonomous vehicles and humanoid robotics. Meta is fusing AI into its DNA and building sprawling AI data centers. But right now, the key difference between these companies lies in the underlying businesses that drive them.
Here's why investors should opt for Meta Platforms over Tesla right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
Tesla's transformation has a long road ahead Elon Musk is building Tesla around self-driving vehicles and humanoid robotics. Tesla launched Robotaxi, a ride-hailing service with self-driving vehicles, last year. The company is also developing Optimus, a humanoid robot that can serve as a robotic worker for enterprises and consumers. Musk believes that these two businesses can turn Tesla into a $25 trillion company and recently discontinued the Model S and Model X electric vehicles to focus on those goals.
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However, Robotaxi is only operating in a few cities, and Optimus might not even go on sale until the end of next year. It might take years for Robotaxi and Optimus to make a significant difference for Tesla, which still relies on EV sales for most of its revenue. Automotive manufacturing is a capital-intensive, low-margin business. As a result, Tesla trades at an eye-popping 190 times its 2026 earnings estimates.
Meta's AI tailwinds are already palpable Social media giant Meta Platforms makes its money from advertising to the 3.56 billion people who use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads each day. Meta is using AI to automate and optimize ads, and is enjoying tangible benefits. Meta's constant-currency revenue growth accelerated to 29% in the first quarter, up from 19% in the first quarter of 2025.
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Zuckerberg has outlined plans to continue building data centers for years to come. Meta is guiding for capital expenditures of up to $145 billion this year alone. The company could begin selling data center capacity to help monetize these investments, but that's an entirely new market for Meta, and the pressure will remain to justify this spending. The concerns have dragged on the stock, which currently trades at 20 times 2026 earnings estimates.
A better business today, and at a much better valuation Ultimately, Meta has a much higher floor than Tesla. If Mark Zuckerberg is right about Meta's AI plans, those investments could generate earnings for the foreseeable future. If things don't work out and Meta has to abandon that plan, investors still have a remarkably profitable and growing core business that should continue to drive earnings growth and spit out cash.
Investors might be waiting a while for Tesla to realize its potential and justify that high valuation. There's no guarantee that Tesla ever will, and the remaining core business just isn't nearly as compelling. That makes it difficult to justify buying Tesla over Meta at their respective valuations.
When you think about Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA 0.18%) (BRKB 0.38%), it's nearly impossible not to recall the long stewardship of Warren Buffett, the legendary investor who led the conglomerate for six decades. Buffett was famed for his buy-and-hold value investing style, taking large positions in blue chip companies like Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and American Express.
Now that Buffett is in his well-earned retirement, Berkshire has new leadership under Greg Abel. And the CEO has wasted no time shaking things up, closing 16 positions in Berkshire's portfolio and trimming the number of companies Berkshire invests in to 29. He also loaded up on Alphabet (GOOG +0.70%) (GOOGL +0.83%), buying 36.4 million shares in the first quarter, and then signing off on a private placement to buy another $10 billion worth of shares.
Nearly 30% of Berkshire's legendary value-oriented portfolio is now tied up in two artificial intelligence stocks: Alphabet and Apple (AAPL 1.33%). And while a 30% allocation to two AI stocks may seem aggressive -- especially for a company like Berkshire Hathaway -- its portfolio is actually more balanced than it has been in years.
Here's why.
Image source: Getty Images.
Berkshire's history with AI stocks It wasn't long ago that Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio was heavily overweighted with Apple. In mid-2023, Berkshire held 914,560,382 shares of Apple stock, accounting for about half of the company's total investment portfolio. But Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway started trimming the company's stake. "I'm very happy to have it be our largest holding," Buffett said in a 2026 interview with CNBC. "I was not happy to have it be as large as almost everything else combined."
Today, Berkshire still holds a sizable position in Apple, accounting for 20.6% of its $348.2 billion investment portfolio. Apple is still the largest holding, although it's not as outsize as it used to be. And Alphabet has cracked the top five, with its Class A shares accounting for 7% of Berkshire's portfolio and Class C shares totaling 1.8%.
Berkshire Hathaway's Top 5 Holdings
Number of Shares
Percentage of Berkshire Portfolio
Apple
227,917,808
20.6%
American Express
151,610,000
15.3%
Coca-Cola
400,000,000
9.6%
Alphabet
66,406,793 (combined Class A and Class C shares)
8.8%
Bank of America
513,624,165
8.8%
Data source: CNBC.
Diversification matters It's important to understand that Berkshire isn't giving up on AI stocks -- it's redeploying capital from Apple and positioning its closed positions in Alphabet. Rather than making just one sizable bet on a top AI stock, Abel has Berkshire significantly invested in two AI stocks. And they come with very different revenue streams.
Apple makes most of its money from hardware, including its iPhone, Mac computers, iPad, and wearables. And its Services segment, which includes the Apple App Store, is a serious money-maker, generating about $31 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter and gross margins of 76%.
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Meanwhile, Alphabet has a powerful internet-based advertising engine that generated $77.25 billion in revenue in the first quarter, and a fast-growing cloud computing division that contributed $20 billion in revenue and jumped 63% year over year.
A 30% weighting in two top AI stocks is much better than a 50% weighting in one. Berkshire's portfolio remains heavily invested in AI, but is less dependent on the success of a single company.
American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Patrick Sanders has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, American Express, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The chief of Google's AI division has called for the U.S. to spearhead a standards body that will oversee new AI models and assess national security risks including cybersecurity and biological threats.
Google DeepMind boss Demis Hassabis, a Nobel laureate, said in an article posted on X on Tuesday that "urgent action" was needed to address risks associated with artificial general intelligence (AGI) — the point at which AI matches or surpasses human intelligence.
"We've already seen the challenges frontier models pose for cybersecurity, and other threats including nuclear and bio risks may soon emerge as capabilities continue to advance," he said.
Hassabis proposed a U.S.-led public-private partnership overseen by the federal government as a solution to helping tackle these threats. The White House, the State Department and the Department of Commerce have been approached for comment.
The comments come a month on from sources telling CNBC that Hassabis, alongside Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, called for a U.S.-led coalition to shape rules and standards around AI at a G7 meeting with tech leaders and heads of state that included President Donald Trump. OpenAI's Sam Altman also called for a similar body in an article published by the Financial Times earlier this month.
AI standards bodyDespite growing calls among industry leaders for an AI watchdog, the regulation of leading AI models has increasingly been a point of contention between public and private sectors.
In recent weeks, Anthropic was locked in negotiations with officials after the Trump administration temporarily imposed export controls over an advanced model. OpenAI also faced restrictions as it was initially requested by the U.S. government to limit the rollout of a new model.
Hassabis said the U.S. was well positioned to lead in developing an AI framework "given its economic and technical standing."
"It could establish a new Standards Body modelled on a federally overseen public-private partnership or self-regulatory organisation, much like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), with a board that includes independent leading technical experts and open-source representatives," he added. FINRA regulates brokerage firms and exchange markets in the U.S.
The proposed body would need "substantial" funding "in order to attract world-class technical talent and provide the necessary compute resources for large-scale testing," Hassabis said. Funding would "likely" come from industry, he added.
Frontier labs would initially voluntarily share models with the body for review up to 30 days before release, before becoming mandatory for deployment in the U.S. market after being shown to be "effective."
"Specific agentic AI tests could look for attempts to bypass safety guardrails or signs of deception, and ensure best practices, such as digitally watermarking AI-generated images and generating human-readable output tokens to understand model reasoning," Hassabis said.
U.S. vs ChinaCalls for greater regulatory oversight come as the race between the U.S. and China to develop and deploy AI models heats up.
Recent model releases from Chinese companies, including DeepSeek and Z.ai, are seen by many as highly competitive compared to leading frontier systems from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, and are gaining traction among U.S. companies as AI costs rise.
As a result, U.S. lawmakers are currently considering how to curb the growing adoption of Chinese AI models by homegrown companies, which the State Department told CNBC raises "serious concerns."
I keep hitting the buy button on Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction), and every quarter hands me a fresh reason to do it again. This is the position I plan to hold for the next decade, and the case gets stronger with each earnings report.
The reason is simple: Google is running the AI stack from silicon to search, and the numbers are showing up in the financials before they show up in the price.
The Compounding Machine I Keep Feeding Start with Cloud. Google Cloud revenue grew 63% in Q1 FY2026 to $20.03B, and the backlog nearly doubled quarter over quarter to over $460 billion. That is contracted future revenue, already on the books. Search kept rolling with 19% growth and queries at all-time highs. YouTube ads posted $9.88B. Paid subscriptions across YouTube Premium and Google One reached 350 million.
The earnings pattern behind the price is what keeps me buying. Q1 FY2026 EPS came in at $5.11 against a $2.63 estimate, the fourth straight quarter of beating expectations.
Operating income grew 30% year over year to $39.70B, and operating margin expanded to 36.1%. Full-year FY2025 annual revenues exceeded $400 billion for the first time. Sundar Pichai summed up the tone: “2026 is off to a terrific start. Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business.”
Why This One and Not the Obvious Alternatives When people talk mega-cap AI, they reach first for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) or Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). I get the reflex. What keeps my capital going into Alphabet is the combination of price and pace. Alphabet trades at a forward P/E of 25 against TTM EPS of $13.1, with return on equity of 38.9%.
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On the Cloud side, one investor podcast I follow put it plainly: “Google is significantly outgrowing Amazon in the cloud space because they made an early bet on courting AI companies.” Cloud growth at 63% year over year is doing that work in the numbers.
The analyst desk lines up behind it: 14 strong buys, 44 buys, 7 holds, zero sells, with a consensus target of $428.54. The stock currently sits 6% below its 52-week high after running 93.96% in the past year and 882.93% over the past ten years.
The Risk I Own With Open Eyes The real risk is capital expenditure. Q1 CapEx more than doubled to $35.67B, up 107.44% year over year, and management guided $175B to $185B in CapEx for FY2026. Free cash flow fell 46.63% in the quarter. That is a real drawdown on the cash machine, and I think about it every time I add to the position.
The reason it has not changed my thesis: operating cash flow still grew 26.67% to $45.79B, shareholders equity sits at $478.75B, and Alphabet raised its quarterly dividend 5% to $0.22 per share during the heaviest investment period in its history. Google is spending because a $460 billion Cloud backlog is asking it to.
The Buy Button Stays Active I own Alphabet because the moat, the growth engine, and the balance sheet all point the same direction, and I plan to still own it in July 2036 for the same reason I bought more of it this week.
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Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) has been one of the most searched-for stocks on Zacks.com lately. So, you might want to look at some of the facts that could shape the stock's performance in the near term.
Over the past month, shares of this online retailer have returned +0.5%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.3% change. During this period, the Zacks Internet - Commerce industry, which Amazon falls in, has gained 4.6%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?
While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.
Revisions to Earnings EstimatesHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.
Our analysis is essentially based on how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to take the latest business trends into account. When earnings estimates for a company go up, the fair value for its stock goes up as well. And when a stock's fair value is higher than its current market price, investors tend to buy the stock, resulting in its price moving upward. Because of this, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and short-term stock price movements.
For the current quarter, Amazon is expected to post earnings of $1.82 per share, indicating a change of +8.3% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +1% over the last 30 days.
For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $8.86 points to a change of +23.6% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed +0.4%.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $10.09 indicates a change of +13.9% from what Amazon is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.7%.
Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, Amazon is rated Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Revenue Growth ForecastEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
For Amazon, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $196.9 billion indicates a year-over-year change of +17.4%. For the current and next fiscal years, $826.06 billion and $933 billion estimates indicate +15.2% and +12.9% changes, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryAmazon reported revenues of $181.52 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +16.6%. EPS of $1.56 for the same period compares with $1.59 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $177.84 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +2.07%. The EPS surprise was -2.5%.
Over the last four quarters, Amazon surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.
While comparing the current values of a company's valuation multiples, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), with its own historical values helps determine whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of the reasonability of the stock's price.
As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Amazon is graded D on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
Bottom LineThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Amazon. However, its Zacks Rank #2 does suggest that it may outperform the broader market in the near term.
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
52-Week Range$196.00▼
$278.56P/E Ratio29.29
Price Target$312.79
Something interesting is happening at the intersection of Amazon.com Inc.'s NASDAQ: AMZN growth story and the broader AI investment boom, and equity investors would be wise to pay attention.
Shares of Amazon are trading just below $250, up around 8% from the end of June, but still well below the May high of almost $280. The stock has been caught in a tug-of-war between long-term believers and short-term skeptics, and the latter camp has just been served fresh evidence.
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The trigger was Amazon's $25 billion bond raise last week, which drew much weaker demand than the enormous rounds of AI-related debt issuance that preceded it. The stock itself has held up relatively well, suggesting equity investors are still buying into the long-term thesis.
However, the muted reception in the bond market is the kind of subtle signal that's worth taking seriously.
What Actually Happened With the Bond RaiseAmazon's $25 billion bond raise saw demand peak at around $62 billion before settling at about $41 billion, leaving a final oversubscription ratio of about 1.6 times the deal size.
On the face of it, that looks decent. But context matters, and the average investment-grade corporate deal in the U.S. this year has seen orders coming in at about four times the size of the deal itself.
In other words, Amazon's bond raise was subscribed at less than half the average level of interest the broader U.S. corporate market has been enjoying. The company also had to offer wider new-issue concessions to price the deal, which is another way of saying it had to sweeten the terms to get investors comfortable.
For a company as large, profitable, and strategically important as Amazon, that's a notable data point.
The Cost of the AI Buildout Is Starting to ClimbHyperscalers have been issuing debt at an unprecedented rate to fund the AI buildout, with last year alone seeing more than $120 billion of bonds issued by AI-focused giants. That was over four times the average of the previous five years.
Bond markets have been absorbing that supply relatively enthusiastically until recently, but Amazon's deal is the clearest sign yet that the endless enthusiasm might be fading.
SpaceX NASDAQ: SPCX also raised $25 billion of investment-grade bonds last month, and its debt weakened significantly in secondary markets almost immediately. Add this in, and the picture is starting to look like that of a bond market beginning to demand a higher return for what it perceives as growing risk.
For a company like Amazon, which is projected to spend close to $200 billion this year, most of it on AI infrastructure, that shift in tone matters. Amazon will likely continue to need to raise capital to fund its aggressive spending plans, and if the bond market becomes increasingly expensive to tap, the cost of that spending will start to climb.
The Difference Between Spending Cash and Spending DebtThe bigger picture is that AI-related debt issuance globally has now reached roughly $335 billion this year alone, more than double the total for 2025. That's an extraordinary amount of borrowed money being funneled into a single sector, and the assumption underlying it all is that the returns will eventually justify the borrowing.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been consistent in describing AI as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" that requires aggressive investment, and Amazon's track record of turning long-term bets into dominant businesses is second to none. But the question the bond market is starting to ask, and one equity investors should be paying attention to, is whether the industry as a whole is over-committing at the wrong pace.
There's a real distinction between investing your own money and investing money that must be repaid. When a downturn eventually arrives, however far away it might be, companies that have funded their growth predominantly with debt tend to feel the pinch faster than those that have relied on cash.
Where That Leaves the StockAmazon.com Stock Forecast Today12-Month Stock Price Forecast:
$312.79
27.95% Upside
Moderate Buy
Based on 60 Analyst Ratings
Current Price$244.46High Forecast$370.00Average Forecast$312.79Low Forecast$218.00Amazon.com Stock Forecast Details
The long-term case for Amazon remains as strong as ever, with AWS accelerating, corporate spending plans increasing, and the broader AI buildout still in its early innings.
The analyst community remains firmly bullish, with fresh price targets consistently set comfortably above $300.
But the bond market's muted reception last week is a caution flag worth watching. Bond investors have a long track record of sniffing out problems before equity investors catch on.
While the bearish sentiment still lacks real conviction, it's certainly starting to whisper.
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"Physical AI" is coming to the United States, and there are four ways that investors can gain exposure to this new robotics revolution. Plus, learn which seven companies are most positioned to benefit as intelligent robots enter the workforce.
Amazon’s chief executive put a number on the AI arms race, and it reframes the entire investment thesis for long-term holders.
The Number $200 billion.
That’s what Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) plans to spend on capital expenditures across the company in 2026, aimed primarily at AI infrastructure, custom chips, robotics, and low-earth-orbit satellite buildout. CEO Andy Jassy disclosed the figure on the Q4 2025 earnings call on February 5, 2026, telling investors: “We expect to invest about $200 billion in capital expenditures across Amazon.com, Inc., but predominantly in AWS, because we have very high demand.” This figure is forward capital expenditure guidance for 2026.
What It Means The scale of this outlay is without recent precedent inside Amazon itself. Full-year 2025 capex already reached $131.8 billion, up from $83.0 billion in 2024 and $16.9 billion in 2019. The 2026 plan pushes that trajectory higher, funding the physical layer of a business that is monetizing capacity as fast as it can install it.
The demand signal is real. AWS revenue reached $37.59 billion in Q1 2026, up 28% YoY, its fastest growth in 15 quarters, at a 37.7% operating margin. Amazon’s custom chip business, spanning Graviton, Trainium, and Nitro, is now running at a $20 billion-plus annualized run rate with triple-digit YoY growth. Committed customer demand includes roughly 2 GW of Trainium capacity for OpenAI starting 2027, up to 5 GW of Trainium chips for Anthropic, and 1 million-plus NVIDIA GPUs to be deployed starting 2026.
Market Reaction Shares closed at $197.75 on February 5, 2026, the day the $200 billion figure was announced. By the April 29, 2026 Q1 filing, the stock was at $259.67. As of July 1, 2026, the price was $241.70, with a year-to-date gain of 4.71% and a one-year gain of 9.63%. The one-month change stands at -7.49%, reflecting recent hyperscaler capex debate, and shares traded at $244.11 on July 2, 2026.
Bull Case The case rests on unit economics that are already working at scale. Q1 2026 EPS came in at $2.78 versus a $1.73 estimate, a 60.69% beat and the fifth consecutive EPS beat. Revenue was $181.52 billion, up 16.61% YoY, with operating income of $23.85 billion, up 29.6% YoY. Advertising is running at a $70 billion-plus trailing 12-month rate, growing 24% YoY.
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Custom silicon is the lever that turns capex into durable margin. Trainium 2 delivers 30-40% better price performance than comparable GPUs, and Trainium 3 offers up to 40% better price performance than Trainium 2, with nearly all supply expected to be committed by mid-2026. Graviton is used by over 90% of AWS’s top 1,000 customers. CFO Brian Olsavsky framed the operating leverage bluntly: “When you are growing 24% year over year with an annualized revenue run rate of $142 billion, you are growing a lot. And what we are continuing to see is as fast as we install this capacity, this AI capacity, we are monetizing it.”
The balance sheet can carry the load. Operating cash flow reached $139.5 billion in 2025, up 20.4% YoY, and net income hit $77.7 billion. Analyst sentiment is heavily positive, with 15 Strong Buy and 47 Buy ratings versus 4 Hold and zero Sell ratings, and a consensus target of $312.99.
Bottom Line For long-term holders, the $200 billion figure is the price of admission to a business Amazon believes will reshape its economic profile. Free cash flow will be compressed near-term, with TTM FCF at $1.2 billion and long-term debt at $119.1 billion, and management has offered no explicit ROI timeline.
The forward catalyst is management’s own guide: Q2 2026 net sales of $194.0 billion to $199.0 billion (16% to 19% YoY growth) and operating income of $20.0 billion to $24.0 billion. If AWS growth holds near the 28% rate and chip revenue keeps compounding, the $200 billion becomes an investment in scarce infrastructure that competitors cannot replicate quickly. Jassy’s own framing sets the bar: “anticipate strong long-term return on invested capital.” The number is the thesis.
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) is running one of the fastest scaling AI businesses in corporate history, yet the stock is acting like the story just broke. Satya Nadella told investors “Our AI business surpassed $37 billion ARR, up 123%” and Microsoft Cloud delivered $54 billion in revenue, up 29% year over year.
Meanwhile, shares are down 20.02% year to date and trade at $392.17. Can this stock reach $650 by 2027? The math works if a few things line up.
Why Microsoft Shares Are Stuck Despite Record AI Growth The disconnect is real. Fundamentals are accelerating, but the stock has been ugly. MSFT is off 1.38% over the past week, 3.09% over the past month, and 22.59% over the past year.
Capital expenditures ballooned to $30.88 billion last quarter, an 84.39% year-over-year jump, and management guided to roughly $190 billion in capital expenditures for calendar year 2026. Free cash flow compressed to $15.8 billion.
With a beta of 1.13, MSFT amplifies broader tech drawdowns. Investors are punishing the AI capex race even as gross margins remain healthy. The OpenAI partnership restructuring gives the market an excuse to sit on the sidelines.
Wall Street Sees 43% Upside. Our Model Sees 27%. Who Is Right? Consensus target sits at $559.86, with 13 Strong Buys, 41 Buys, and just 3 Holds. Zero sells. Our model: base case of $497.55, implying 26.87% upside, bull case of $600.44, bear case of $442.57, all at 90% confidence. The Street is likely closer to right.
Bullish analyst sentiment stands at 95%, and earnings growth runs at 23.4% year over year. Our model dampens targets 50% for mega-caps, but a company compounding AI revenue at triple digits may prove this discipline too cautious.
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The Path to $650 Per Share Reaching $650 from today’s price of $392.17 requires a gain of 65.7%. With forward EPS of $18.89, a price of $650 implies a forward P/E of 34x. Our base case of $497.55 already implies 24x, meaning the bold target requires roughly 10x additional multiple expansion. That is a stretch, but not impossible for a company where commercial remaining performance obligations reached $627 billion, nearly doubling year over year.
Nadella emphasized that “We are at the beginning of one of the most consequential platform shifts that will change the entire tech stack as agents proliferate”, and Microsoft added 20 million Microsoft 365 Copilot paid seats with seat additions up 250% year over year. The primary risk is that AI capex compresses margins faster than revenue can absorb.
Where Microsoft Trades Today vs Its Earnings Power At $392.17 against forward EPS of $18.89, MSFT trades at roughly 21x forward earnings. For a business growing revenue 18.3% year over year with operating margins of 46%, that is not expensive.
Shares sit near their 52-week low of $349.20, well below the high of $551.05. Long term, MSFT has returned 718.59% over the past decade. The current multiple looks like a reset, not a topping pattern.
Can Microsoft Really Hit $650? My Verdict Reaching $650 by 2027 requires a 65.7% gain.
Three things need to go right: Azure needs to sustain the 39% to 40% growth guided into Q4, Copilot needs to convert seat momentum into durable per-user economics, and margins need to stabilize as capex peaks. What derails it: a step-down in enterprise AI budgets or a demand cliff at Azure. We’ve outlined the blueprint for how Microsoft could reach $650 in 2027.
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Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) has recently been on Zacks.com's list of the most searched stocks. Therefore, you might want to consider some of the key factors that could influence the stock's performance in the near future.
Over the past month, shares of this software maker have returned -2.2%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.3% change. During this period, the Zacks Computer - Software industry, which Microsoft falls in, has lost 3.5%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?
Although media reports or rumors about a significant change in a company's business prospects usually cause its stock to trend and lead to an immediate price change, there are always certain fundamental factors that ultimately drive the buy-and-hold decision.
Revisions to Earnings EstimatesRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.
Our analysis is essentially based on how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to take the latest business trends into account. When earnings estimates for a company go up, the fair value for its stock goes up as well. And when a stock's fair value is higher than its current market price, investors tend to buy the stock, resulting in its price moving upward. Because of this, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and short-term stock price movements.
For the current quarter, Microsoft is expected to post earnings of $4.21 per share, indicating a change of +15.3% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +0.2% over the last 30 days.
The consensus earnings estimate of $17.33 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of +27.1%. This estimate has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $19.29 indicates a change of +11.3% from what Microsoft is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has remained unchanged.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Microsoft.
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Projected Revenue GrowthEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
In the case of Microsoft, the consensus sales estimate of $87.44 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +14.4%. The $329.26 billion and $381.62 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +16.9% and +15.9%, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryMicrosoft reported revenues of $82.89 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +18.3%. EPS of $4.27 for the same period compares with $3.46 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $81.4 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +1.83%. The EPS surprise was +4.91%.
The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationWithout considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.
While comparing the current values of a company's valuation multiples, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), with its own historical values helps determine whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of the reasonability of the stock's price.
As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Microsoft is graded C on this front, indicating that it is trading at par with its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Microsoft. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
, /PRNewswire/ -- The Gross Law Firm issues the following notice to shareholders of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).
Shareholders who purchased shares of MSFT during the class period listed are encouraged to contact the firm regarding possible lead plaintiff appointment. Appointment as lead plaintiff is not required to partake in any recovery.
ALLEGATIONS: The complaint alleges that during the class period, Defendants issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (a) Microsoft's Copilot family of products had experienced significant brand positioning, user experience, usage, data siloing, computational capacity, organizational, and interoperability problems; (b) Microsoft's flagship proprietary AI model ranked well below competitors on a number of benchmark tests; (c) Microsoft needed to increase by billions of dollars its capital expenditures and divert GPU and 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 R&D; and (d) as a result of (a)-(c) above, Microsoft had failed to convert a significant percentage of its commercial Microsoft 365 users to paid Copilot subscriptions and the Company's Copilot offerings had lost market share to rival products, a trend that was increasing.
DEADLINE: August 11, 2026 Shareholders should not delay in registering for this class action. Register your information here: https://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/microsoft-corporation-loss-submission-form/?id=193590&from=4
NEXT STEPS FOR SHAREHOLDERS: Once you register as a shareholder who purchased shares of MSFT during the timeframe listed above, you will be enrolled in a portfolio monitoring software to provide you with status updates throughout the lifecycle of the case. The deadline to seek to be a lead plaintiff is August 11, 2026. There is no cost or obligation to you to participate in this case.
WHY GROSS LAW FIRM? The Gross Law Firm is a nationally recognized class action law firm, and our mission is to protect the rights of all investors who have suffered as a result of deceit, fraud, and illegal business practices. The Gross Law Firm is committed to ensuring that companies adhere to responsible business practices and engage in good corporate citizenship. The firm seeks recovery on behalf of investors who incurred losses when false and/or misleading statements or the omission of material information by a company lead to artificial inflation of the company's stock. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
The Gross Law Firm
15 West 38th Street, 12th floor
New York, NY, 10018
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (646) 453-8903
SummaryMicrosoft (MSFT) remains highly attractive on a risk-reward basis despite recent S&P 500 underperformance. MSFT trades at 20x earnings, a 20% discount to the sector median, yet offers superior growth and premium margins. I see no structural concerns and maintain a Strong Buy rating for MSFT at current levels. MSFT's brand strength and competitive moat further justify a valuation premium over peers. Vertigo3d/E+ via Getty Images
Honestly, Microsoft (MSFT) at the moment remains one of the most interesting names in terms of risk to reward ratio in my opinion. Clearly, my bullish thesis hasn't played out the way I thought it would
2.12K Followers
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of MSFT, NVDA, AMZN, AAPL, META 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 (other than from Seeking Alpha). 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 as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above 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. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
It doesn't matter your age or experience: taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for all investors. Luckily, Zacks Premium offers several different ways to do both.
Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.
Zacks Premium also includes the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores is a unique set of guidelines that rates stocks based on three popular investing types, and were developed as complementary indicators for the Zacks Rank. This combination helps investors choose securities with the highest chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics. Just like in school, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on -- that means the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFinding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value, are what value investors like to focus on. So, the Value Style Score takes into account ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to highlight the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreWhile good value is important, growth investors are more focused on a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score takes projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow into account to uncover stocks that will see long-term, sustainable growth.
Momentum ScoreMomentum trading is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook, and these investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." The Momentum Style Score can pinpoint good times to build a position in a stock, using factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates.
VGM ScoreIf you like to use all three kinds of investing, then the VGM Score is for you. It's a combination of all Style Scores, and is an important indicator to use with the Zacks Rank. The VGM Score rates each stock on their shared weighted styles, narrowing down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank, which is a proprietary stock-rating model, employs earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to make building a winning portfolio easier.
It's highly successful, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +23.94% average annual return since 1988. That's more than double the S&P 500. But because of the large number of stocks we rate, there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
With more than 800 top-rated stocks to choose from, it can certainly feel overwhelming to pick the ones that are right for you and your investing journey.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To have the best chance of big returns, you'll want to always consider stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B, which will give you the highest probability of success. If you're looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, it's important they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
The direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should always be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy, since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank.
Here's an example: a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one with Style Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings outlook, and a bigger chance its share price will decrease too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) Microsoft Corporation is one of the largest broad-based technology providers in the world. The company dominates the PC software market with more than 73% of the market share for desktop operating systems.
MSFT is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.
Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. MSFT has a Growth Style Score of B, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 27.1% for the current fiscal year.
One analyst revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.00 to $17.33 per share. MSFT boasts an average earnings surprise of +8.4%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, MSFT should be on investors' short list.
Key Takeaways Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Ciena are positioned to benefit from expanding cloud and AI demand.Google Cloud, Azure and AWS are scaling infrastructure, services and AI capabilities worldwide.Ciena's WaveLogic and Blue Planet tools support bandwidth growth, automation and AI-driven networks. An updated edition of the May 21, 2026, article.
Cloud computing has emerged as one of the most “hot and happening” long-term growth drivers in the technology industry, enabling businesses to operate more efficiently, innovate faster and strengthen their competitive position. Its growing adoption across industries has been fueled by key advantages such as greater flexibility, scalability, accessibility and cost efficiency. Powered by virtualization technology, cloud computing has accelerated digital transformation by allowing organizations to access, manage and store data over the Internet without depending on physical servers or complex on-premises IT infrastructure.
By enabling multiple users to share computing resources through web browsers or dedicated applications connected to cloud-based platforms, it optimizes resource utilization and improves operational efficiency. Additionally, cloud computing has made seamless omnichannel customer engagement more accessible while significantly reducing infrastructure and operating costs.
Cloud computing is an attractive theme for investors seeking exposure to blue-chip tech firms. This has made cloud computing firms, such as Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) , Microsoft Corporation (MSFT - Free Report) , Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) and Ciena Corporation (CIEN - Free Report) , indispensable to any investment portfolio. But before delving into these prized possessions, let us examine a little more why organizations are increasingly adopting cloud computing.
Based on a pay-per-use pricing model, enterprises only pay for the computing resources they use. This has helped business enterprises reduce operating costs for maintaining on-site data centers and deploying IT experts to manage the infrastructure, making it a highly cost-effective solution. With easy access to a plethora of innovative technologies, cloud computing increases productivity with greater agility and flexibility, and improves scalability with higher economies of scale. Moreover, cloud computing services are delivered over a highly secure network with low latency for applications and data backup facilities for improved reliability.
Cloud computing services fall into four broad categories – infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and serverless and software as a service (SaaS) – each offering different levels of control, flexibility and management options to business enterprises. Cloud computing, which relies heavily on virtualization and automation technologies, provides the requisite infrastructure for AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning (ML) workloads. It delivers powerful computing abilities to process and analyze data, creating an ideal platform for Big Data management.
Per Grand View Research, the global cloud computing market size is expected to swell to $3,349.6 billion by 2033 from $943.7 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 16% with a variety of capabilities across multiple industries. These include diverse use cases such as improved patient monitoring and outcomes in healthcare, personalized financial management and predictive spending, immersive learning in education, superior inventory management in retail and predictive maintenance and better supply chain management in the manufacturing sector.
If you intend to capitalize on this buzzing trend, our Cloud Computing Thematic Investing Screen could make it easy to identify high-potential stocks in this domain at any given time, just like the four mentioned above. By leveraging advanced tools, our thematic screens identify companies shaping the future, making it easier to benefit from emerging trends.
Ready to uncover more transformative thematic investment ideas? Explore 36 cutting-edge investment themes with Zacks Thematic Investing Screens and discover your next big opportunity.
Key Cloud Computing Stocks to Bet OnAlphabet has been growing rapidly in the booming cloud-computing market. Over the last few years, the company has evolved from primarily being a search engine provider to a leading provider of cloud computing technology. Google Cloud is one of the key catalysts behind the company’s growth, driven by its strengthening cloud service offerings.
The solid adoption of the Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace and continued investments in infrastructure, security, data management, analytics and AI have helped Google to expand its cloud footprint worldwide. The increasing number of cloud regions and availability zones globally has been a hallmark of Google Cloud. Currently, Google Cloud has 43 cloud regions, 130 availability zones and more than 200 network edge locations across more than 200 countries. Google Cloud is considered the third-largest cloud player among numerous cloud providers worldwide.
Google Cloud is benefiting from Alphabet’s years of investments in AI infrastructure, custom silicon and enterprise software that are beginning to translate into substantial financial returns. Alphabet’s growing GenAI capabilities and significant investments in cloud computing are potential catalysts for the future amid stiff competition in the cloud space and increasing regulatory headwinds. It has a VGM Score of B. Alphabet sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Microsoft is one of the most prominent public cloud providers that delivers a wide variety of IaaS and PaaS solutions at scale. Microsoft Azure, its cloud computing platform, allows users to build, run and scale applications in the cloud. It offers a variety of services, including storage, networking, analytics and AI.
Microsoft has doubled down on the cloud computing opportunity. Azure’s increased availability in more than 60 announced regions globally has strengthened Microsoft's competitive position in the cloud computing market. Operating through a vast network of global data centers that ensure high availability and reliability for applications, Azure offers seamless access to all the services included in the portal once customers subscribe to it. Subscribers can use these services to create cloud-based resources, such as virtual machines (VMs) and databases, which can then be assembled into running environments used to host workloads and store data.
As Microsoft continues to push the boundaries of networking technology, it aims to create innovative, resilient and secure solutions that enable businesses to leverage AI and the cloud to their fullest potential. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is investing heavily in AI-powered cloud services, integrating Azure OpenAI Service, Copilot and ML into various cloud solutions, making AI a central feature of Azure to empower organizations to manage their applications with greater confidence and efficiency. It has a VGM Score of B.
Amazon enjoys a leading position in the cloud computing market, particularly in the IaaS space, thanks to Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), which is one of its high-margin-generating businesses. The expanding customer base of AWS, driven by its strengthening cloud offerings, will continue to aid Amazon's dominance in the global cloud space.
AWS is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted on-demand cloud computing platform, offering more than 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. Millions of customers, including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises and leading government agencies, are using AWS to lower costs, become more agile and innovate faster. It reportedly offers the widest variety of databases that are purpose-built for different types of applications to enable subscribers to choose the right tool for the job.
Amazon aims to extend AWS’ AI and ML capabilities to facilitate improved decision-making. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company intends to expand its global infrastructure for faster and more reliable service with low latency and maximum availability. From cloud-native applications and AI-driven solutions to edge computing and sustainability initiatives, AWS is likely to push the limits in the realm of cloud computing technology.
Ciena has emerged as a key beneficiary of the cloud computing boom. The company’s advanced optical networking and automation solutions are witnessing strong demand as hyperscalers and telecom operators continue expanding data center infrastructure to support AI workloads and rising global data traffic. Higher demand for bandwidth and adoption of cloud architectures for generative AI applications and AI model training remain key growth drivers, as the company expects its profitability to improve on a balanced mix of new and existing customers.
Ciena is well-positioned to capitalize on the secular growth trend through its industry-leading coherent optical technology portfolio, particularly its WaveLogic platform. The company’s latest WaveLogic 6 Extreme solution supports transmission speeds of up to 1.6 terabits per second per wavelength, enabling cloud providers to scale network capacity efficiently while lowering power consumption and operating costs by maximizing existing fiber infrastructure without the need for extensive new fiber deployment.
Ciena’s portfolio, including WaveLogic, RLS, Navigator and Interconnect Solutions, remains a recognized industry standard. The company is also strengthening its position through software-driven networking solutions. Its Blue Planet automation platform helps operators simplify network management through AI-driven orchestration, analytics and automation capabilities. This Zacks Rank #1 company’s technological leadership, expanding hyperscaler relationships and growing software capabilities position it favorably within the rapidly evolving AI infrastructure ecosystem.
, /PRNewswire/ -- The Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces that investors with substantial losses have opportunity to lead the securities fraud class action lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation ("Microsoft" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:MSFT).
IF YOU ARE AN INVESTOR WHO SUFFERED A LOSS IN MICROSOFT CORPORATION (MSFT), CONTACT THE LAW OFFICES OF HOWARD G. SMITH BEFORE AUGUST 11, 2026 (LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE) TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ONGOING SECURITIES FRAUD LAWSUIT.
Contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss your legal rights by email at [email protected], by telephone at (215) 638-4847 or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com.
What Is The Lawsuit About?
The complaint filed alleges that, between May 1, 2025 and January 28, 2026, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that Microsoft's Copilot family of products had experienced significant brand positioning, user experience, usage, data siloing, computational capacity, organizational, and interoperability problems; (2) that Microsoft's flagship proprietary AI model ranked well below competitors on a number of benchmark tests; (3) that Microsoft needed to increase by billions of dollars its capital expenditures and divert GPU and 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 R&D; (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, Microsoft had failed to convert a significant percentage of its commercial Microsoft 365 users to paid Copilot subscriptions and the Company's Copilot offerings had lost market share to rival products, a trend that was increasing; and (5) as a result, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
Contact Us To Participate or Learn More:
If you wish to learn more about this class action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to the pending class action lawsuit, please contact:
Howard G. Smith, Esq.,
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith,
3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112,
Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020,
Call us at: (215) 638-4847
Email us at: [email protected],
Visit our website at: www.howardsmithlaw.com.
To be a member of the class action you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.
Contact Us:
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith
Howard G. Smith, Esquire
215-638-4847
[email protected]
www.howardsmithlaw.com
The stock outperformed the broader market, with the Nasdaq gaining 1.35% and the S&P 500 rising 0.42%. Technology was the day’s best-performing sector.
Analysts Raise Price ForecastsKeyBanc analyst John Vinh maintained an Overweight rating and raised his price forecast on AMD to $725 from $530.
The firm said AMD has secured additional server CPU capacity, supporting expected unit growth of 15% to 20% this year and more than 50% in 2027.
It also expects the MI455 AI GPUs and Helios platform to ramp in the second half of 2026, forecasting AI GPU revenue of $16.8 billion in 2026 and $48.5 billion in 2027.
KeyBanc added that AMD’s CoWoS advanced packaging supply has increased from 80,000 to 90,000 units this year and could reach 130,000 next year, easing AI supply constraints.
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya also raised his price forecast to $620 from $550. TD Cowen analyst Joshua Buchalter increased his forecast to $675 on Monday.
Hedge Funds Turn Bullish On Chip StocksThe rally also followed renewed institutional buying.
According to Goldman Sachs data shared by The Kobeissi Letter, hedge funds bought U.S. semiconductor stocks last week at the fastest pace in at least three-and-a-half years.
The buying followed two weeks of heavy selling and suggested investors viewed the recent pullback in chip stocks as largely complete. Semiconductor companies now account for about 10% of total hedge fund exposure, roughly double last year’s level but still below the nearly 14% peak reached in May.
AMD Stock Price Activity: Advanced Micro Devices shares were up 4.15% at $556.58 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Photo via Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Silo Pharma shares initially traded higher on Tuesday before pulling back and turning negative.
The company said participation in the program is expected to support the continued development, testing, optimization, and benchmarking of QwikAgents’ artificial intelligence workloads as it broadens the platform’s consumer and enterprise capabilities.
Platform Targets Individuals, Developers And BusinessesQwikAgents is building a next-generation AI agent platform designed to provide dedicated, persistent AI agents for individuals, developers, small businesses, and enterprises.
According to the company, users can deploy blank AI agents and, in the future, purpose-built agents for tasks including research, content generation, scheduling, coding, browser automation, and workflow automation.
Starter plans are expected to begin at $14 per month, with infrastructure options that scale for more demanding workloads.
The platform is also being designed to combine persistent memory, dedicated agent infrastructure, smart model routing, and encrypted backups with a simplified deployment process.
Silo Pharma said these features are intended to provide configurable AI agents across personal, developer, and business workflows.
AMD Program Expected To Support Platform ScalingSilo Pharma expects access to AMD’s developer resources to help improve platform performance, increase agent reliability, and support the scalable deployment of autonomous AI agents capable of reasoning, executing tasks, and completing workflows with minimal human intervention.
Beyond its AI initiative, Silo Pharma remains a developmental-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on therapies for underserved conditions, including stress-induced psychiatric disorders, chronic pain, and central nervous system diseases.
Its pipeline includes SPC-15 for post-traumatic stress disorder, SP-26 for fibromyalgia and chronic pain, and a preclinical program targeting Alzheimer’s disease.
SILO Price Action: SILO Pharma shares were down 4.36% at $5.05 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Image via Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Many tech stocks have been soaring in recent years due to enhanced growth opportunities relating to artificial intelligence (AI). But while investors have been fairly bullish on tech as a whole, they've remained cautious when it comes to geopolitical uncertainty, which is at least part of the reason why Chinese-based Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA +0.48%) hasn't generated strong returns. In five years, it has lost close to half of its value.
Recently, however, it's been showing some signs of life. In the past few weeks, as investors have been moving out of high-priced tech stocks, Alibaba's stock has been rallying. On Monday, it closed at just over $112, up about 17% from the roughly $96 it was trading at just a few weeks earlier, toward the end of June.
Given its beaten-down valuation and investors potentially rotating out of high-priced stocks into more reasonably priced options, could this be the beginning of a much larger rally for Alibaba?
Image source: Getty Images.
Alibaba's growth rate has been improving, and AI may lead to more opportunities In recent quarters, Alibaba has been experiencing stronger growth, and it has been investing heavily in AI. Its Qwen AI app topped 100 million monthly active users this year, and Alibaba has also launched enterprise AI agents as it hopes to take advantage of more emerging opportunities in AI.
As a leading tech company in one of the largest markets in the world, Alibaba is well-positioned to grow. Investors, however, may feel a bit underwhelmed with its growth because while it has been improving, it remains in single digits.
BABA Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts
Is Alibaba's stock a good option for AI investors today? At 17 times its trailing earnings, Alibaba's stock looks undervalued when you consider the average stock on the S&P 500 trades at a multiple of 26. But there is some risk here that investors should consider, because while it does have opportunities and its valuation may appear low, that doesn't mean it's a no-brainer buy.
While Alibaba has tremendous potential, its results fail to truly show it effectively capitalizing on its opportunities. Plus, its earnings have been inflated recently by changes in equity investments and other items. The company's adjusted earnings were nearly completely wiped out during the first three months of the year, as Alibaba attributed its evaporating profits to significant investments in tech and quick commerce.
Today's Change
(
0.48
%) $
0.54
Current Price
$
112.89
All in all, while Alibaba's stock is rallying of late, it may not exactly be an underrated buy right now. It does have some compelling growth opportunities, but I wouldn't rush to buy it as its financial results simply haven't been all that impressive.
Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) has recently been on Zacks.com's list of the most searched stocks. Therefore, you might want to consider some of the key factors that could influence the stock's performance in the near future.
Over the past month, shares of this online retailer have returned -0.2%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.3% change. During this period, the Zacks Internet - Commerce industry, which Alibaba falls in, has gained 4.6%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?
While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.
Earnings Estimate RevisionsHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.
Our analysis is essentially based on how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to take the latest business trends into account. When earnings estimates for a company go up, the fair value for its stock goes up as well. And when a stock's fair value is higher than its current market price, investors tend to buy the stock, resulting in its price moving upward. Because of this, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and short-term stock price movements.
Alibaba is expected to post earnings of $1.94 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of -5.8%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +8.3%.
For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $6.89 points to a change of +77.1% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed -6%.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $9.59 indicates a change of +39.2% from what Alibaba is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed -3.6%.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for Alibaba.
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Revenue Growth ForecastEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
In the case of Alibaba, the consensus sales estimate of $38.63 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +11.7%. The $167.52 billion and $185.78 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +15.2% and +10.9%, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryAlibaba reported revenues of $35.28 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +8.3%. EPS of $0.09 for the same period compares with $1.73 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $35.23 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +0.15%. The EPS surprise was -92.62%.
Over the last four quarters, Alibaba surpassed consensus EPS estimates times. The company topped consensus revenue estimates three times over this period.
ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.
While comparing the current values of a company's valuation multiples, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), with its own historical values helps determine whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of the reasonability of the stock's price.
As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Alibaba is graded C on this front, indicating that it is trading at par with its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
Bottom LineThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Alibaba. However, its Zacks Rank #4 does suggest that it may underperform the broader market in the near term.
