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Interested in GitLab Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. GitLab reported stronger-than-expected fiscal Q2 2027 results, including 21% revenue growth and net annual recurring revenue growth above 40%. GitLab’s SaaS, Flex, Duo, and enterprise customer metrics point to improving demand as AI increases software-development activity. GitLab’s post-earnings surge improves the technical setup, but competition from Microsoft and other developer platforms remains a key risk. GitLab’s (NASDAQ: GTLB) SaaS-pocalypse rebound is gaining momentum after a software-validating earnings report. The company’s metrics show intensifying demand for its product, which includes embedded AI and governance tools across the software development platform. The ultimate impact of AI disruption on SaaS stocks remains uncertain, but it is clearly driving increased software development, which is GitLab’s specialty. Governance and compliance are critical factors in this story, as GitLab’s DevSecOps platform is a crucial cog in heavily regulated industries, including healthcare, financial services, defense, and the public sector. These sectors face intense scrutiny around integrity, reliability, and security, which GitLab is happy to support. → Boarding Call: EHang Secures First-Mover Altitude Among the catalysts emerging with the Q2 fiscal year (FY2027) release are analysts' responses and the stock price surge they drove. Analysts who had been lifting targets ahead of the release issued another string of price target increases and upgrades after it, strengthening the sentiment trend and forecasting fresh highs. As it stands, MarketBeat tracks 29 analysts, sufficient for strong conviction, rating the stock as a consensus of Hold. The post-release surge aligned the market with the consensus, suggesting upside is limited, but the trend leads to the high end of the range and a nearly two-year stock price high. The likely outcome, based on the greater than 100% increase in first orders, is that momentum continues to build, upcoming releases are better than expected, and analyst trends continue to strengthen. → Medtronic’s Stars Are Aligning for a Price Recovery The stock price surge is monumental. GitLab jumped more than 20% in after-hours and premarket trading, extending the strong rebound. The move puts the market at an 18-month high and on track to test a critical resistance level near $60. It aligns with prior price action and may cap gains until the subsequent report is released. → Dutch Bros Sell-Off Creates a Growth Opportunity GitLab had a robust quarter, putting many of the market’s fears to rest. Net revenue of $286.3 million rose 21.3% year over year (YOY), beating consensus by 475 basis points on strength in new clients and offerings. Net new annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew more than 40%, and the net retention rate (NRR) accelerated to 117% as existing clients leaned more into GTLB services such as Flex. Flex is a new pricing structure that enables enterprises to consolidate software spending into a single annual commitment, providing better visibility and cost outcomes for clients. The impact on GTLB is increased adoption of its services. Segmentally, the core Subscription business grew by 21.4%, while Licensing also grew a solid 20%. SaaS represented 34% of total revenue and grew 36% year over year, while total remaining performance obligation (RPO) rose 16% to $1.2 billion. Customers with more than $100,000 in ARR grew 17%, and deals of $500,000 or more increased more than 150%, strengthening GitLab’s revenue visibility and enterprise-demand story. Margin news is mixed: margins contracted YOY, but they came in better than expected, which could support higher share prices. Key details include a 15% adjusted operating margin, positive free cash flow, and 24 cents in adjusted earnings, flat YOY but 6 cents, or about 33%, better than forecast. Guidance is also a catalyst for higher share prices. The company expects the strengths to continue, issuing favorable Q3 FY2027 targets and lifting the full-year outlook. The new targets put the low end of the expected range in line with consensus; if they aren’t above consensus, they expect strength that likely underestimates the market. Agentic AI has only just begun to flourish, with strengths across the software ecosystem pointing to accelerating momentum in the coming quarters. Institutions reflect strong confidence in this stock, owning more than 95% of the shares. As importantly, they’ve been accumulating quarterly for over a year, underpinning market support for GTLB, and their activity noticeably strengthened in early Q3 FY2027. The data shows buying activity spiking and selling dropping to nearly zero. This suggests limited downside in Q3 and Q4, though pullback risk remains. The sudden 20% price pop offers an attractive profit-taking and exit point for existing holders and may lead to consolidation or a pullback before the market can sustain traction and move to new highs. GitLab’s biggest risks this year include scaling its business and competition. While scaling appears to be a minor concern, competition is more pressing. GitLab provides ample utility, but so do Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) GitHub and Azure DevOps, which are far better supported. GitLab is well-capitalized and can continue to execute its strategy, gaining share alongside market growth, but is unlikely to disrupt Microsoft’s business anytime soon. The article "GitLab’s Earnings Beat Just Gave Software Bulls a New SaaSpocalypse Test" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for September 2026.

Interested in Rezolve AI PLC? Here are five stocks we like better. Revenue surged to $130.8 million in the first half of 2026 from $6.3 million a year earlier, with the customer base expanding to more than 1,640 accounts. Rezolve reaffirmed its approximately $360 million full-year revenue target and aims to exit 2026 with at least $500 million in ARR. Despite strong growth, Rezolve reported a $139.5 million net loss, a $32.6 million adjusted EBITDA loss and $96.1 million in operating cash use. The company held approximately $100.5 million in total cash, including restricted funds, as of June 30. Partnerships and infrastructure expansion remain central to the strategy, with Microsoft, Google, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra supporting distribution and deployments. Google selected Rezolve’s database technology for a Google Cloud Web3 infrastructure deployment, though financial terms were not disclosed. Google Cloud Just Gave Rezolve AI a Major Vote of Confidence Rezolve AI (NASDAQ:RZLV) reported first-half 2026 revenue of $130.8 million, up from $6.3 million in the prior-year period, as the company expanded its enterprise customer base and continued to build distribution partnerships with major technology and services providers. Founder, Chairman and CEO Dan Wagner said first-half revenue was nearly three times the company’s revenue for all of 2025. Rezolve’s customer base exceeded 1,640 at the end of the period, compared with more than 950 at year-end 2025. The company cited publicly disclosed relationships with retailers, consumer brands and other enterprises including H&M, ASOS, Ferrero, Myntra, Rakuten Group, Omaha Steaks, Cineplex, Target and Qatar Airways. → OneMain’s Yield Comes With a Catch Rezolve AI Stock Has a Short-Squeeze Setup, But Execution Comes First Rezolve reaffirmed its expectation for approximately $360 million in fiscal 2026 revenue and said it continues to target at least $500 million in annual recurring revenue, or ARR, exiting the year. The company said its revenue profile is weighted toward the second half, reflecting holiday retail activity, customer campaigns, enterprise deployment schedules and partner-led distribution. Based on the company’s full-year guidance, second-half revenue would be approximately $229 million, or about 75% above first-half revenue. CFO and COO Arthur Yao said the outlook does not include anticipated acquisitions and is “purely organic” based on the company’s expectations. → Apple’s Foldable iPhone Could Be a Catalyst, But Not a Cure-All 3 High-Risk, High-Reward Stocks With Explosive Upside Wagner said growth is expected to come from both expansion within existing accounts and new enterprise wins. Existing customers that began with smaller engagements are increasing their commitments, he said, while the company is also being introduced to larger accounts through partners. First-half gross profit rose to $63.9 million from $6 million a year earlier, while gross margin was 48.9%. Yao said the margin reflected the company’s mix of software, professional services, loyalty and platform activities, as well as costs associated with implementing enterprise deployments. → Strike a Balance Between Growth and Stability With These 3 Names Ready to Rally He said loyalty and professional services generally carry lower margins than recurring software, platform revenue and infrastructure licensing. Rezolve expects gross margin to improve as higher-margin agentic commerce platform revenue becomes a larger part of the business mix. Yao said the company’s core-margin business exceeds 90%, though he did not provide a consolidated margin target. Rezolve reported an operating loss of $128.1 million for the first half, compared with an operating loss of $32.4 million in the prior-year period. The operating loss included $41.5 million of share-based compensation and $20.4 million of depreciation and amortization, according to Yao. Net loss was $139.5 million, compared with $57.9 million a year earlier, after a $4.5 million income tax benefit. On an adjusted EBITDA basis, Rezolve reported a loss of $32.6 million, which Yao said excludes primarily non-cash expenses and one-time acquisition and restructuring costs. Operating cash use was $96.1 million, while investing cash use totaled $148.3 million, largely related to business combinations, platform development and other investments. Financing activities provided $232.5 million, including about $250 million of gross equity capital raised during the first half. As of June 30, the company had $33.2 million in cash and cash equivalents and $67.4 million in restricted cash, for total cash of approximately $100.5 million. Yao said restricted cash is not immediately available for general corporate purposes. He said the company did not need additional capital for day-to-day operations, though it may consider debt or other financing structures for strategic opportunities and potential acquisitions. Management highlighted relationships with Microsoft, Google, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra as routes to enterprise customers, implementation capacity and cloud infrastructure. Wagner said the company’s agentic commerce technology is available through Microsoft Foundry and can be deployed on Microsoft Azure, with integrations across Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Wagner said Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra can provide professional services and deployment support for customers, allowing Rezolve to focus on supplying technology. He said selling through these partners can improve Rezolve’s gross-margin profile because the partners handle much of the implementation work. Rezolve has about 700 employees in its professional services group, mainly based in India, he added. Following the end of the first half, Google selected Rezolve’s proprietary distributed database technology for an infrastructure-level deployment within Google Cloud, according to management. The initial deployment covers approximately 100 terabytes of data across 10 blockchain networks and supports indexing and data pipelines for Google Cloud Web3 datasets. Wagner described the deployment as external validation of Rezolve’s underlying data infrastructure, which the company has historically used to support its own agentic commerce products. Management did not disclose pricing, contract terms or expected revenue from the Google relationship. Wagner said additional information could become available in coming weeks and that the company is pursuing other infrastructure licensing opportunities. Rezolve also said its Reward acquisition expanded its loyalty capabilities into more than 15 markets. Management said Reward has relationships with Barclays, Visa, Mastercard, NatWest and Mashreq, and has returned more than $2 billion in cashback to consumers. Following the period end, the company partnered with Zilch, a payments platform serving nearly 6 million customers and driving more than $3.3 billion annually to partner merchants. Wagner said Rezolve plans to demonstrate its technology stack and commercialization plans at its Nasdaq Investor Day on Oct. 6. Rezolve AI, Inc operates a cloud-based engagement platform that connects physical world touchpoints to digital experiences. Through its proprietary Rezolve platform, the company enables brands and marketers to deploy interactive mobile campaigns triggered by NFC-enabled tags, QR codes, short URLs and other proximity-based technologies. These campaigns facilitate in-the-moment product demonstrations, digital promotions and seamless e-commerce transactions without the need to download a dedicated app. The company’s platform includes a no-code campaign management portal, real-time analytics dashboard and integration tools for customer relationship management, payment processing and third-party marketing systems. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Rezolve AI H1 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for September 2026.

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Revenue growth of approximately 1,970% in H1 2026 was driven by the rapid expansion of the customer base to over 1,640 enterprise clients. The company is pivoting from a conventional direct sales model to a partner-led distribution strategy leveraging Microsoft, Google, TCS, and Tech Mahindra to access global enterprise markets. Management attributes the successful scaling to their 'Agentic' commerce suite, which provides the data, intelligence, and payment rails required for AI agents to execute transactions. The selection of Rezolve's distributed database technology by Google Cloud validates the company's strategy to license its underlying infrastructure independently of its commerce applications. Operational focus has shifted toward utilizing global system integrators for implementation, which improves gross margins by offloading lower-margin professional services to partners. Production-scale validation was achieved during the FIFA 2026 World Cup period, processing over 103 million app opens and demonstrating the platform's reliability in high-volume environments. Reaffirmed full-year 2026 revenue guidance of approximately $360 million, implying H2 revenue will be around 75% greater than H1 due to seasonal retail peaks. Targeting an ARR exit rate of at least $500 million by the end of 2026, supported by a significantly larger customer operating base and maturing partner channels. Management expects to announce further infrastructure licensing agreements in the near term, following the initial Google Cloud deployment. Gross margins are expected to improve as the revenue mix shifts toward higher-margin software recurring platform revenue and infrastructure licensing. The company anticipates that the 'Agentic' economy will drive a massive increase in transaction volumes, positioning their proprietary blockchain-based payment rails for future licensing. Reported GAAP operating loss of $128.1 million includes $41.5 million in non-cash share-based compensation and $20.4 million in depreciation and amortization. The acquisition of Rewards Network expanded capabilities across 15 markets and established relationships with major financial institutions like Barclays and Visa. A partnership with Zilch extended the platform's reach to 6 million customers, driving over $3.3 billion in annual merchant volume. The company maintains a liquidity position of approximately $100.5 million in total cash, including $67.4 million in restricted cash, to fund ongoing growth initiatives. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Partners like TCS and Tech Mahindra provide immediate credibility and access to blue-chip accounts, accelerating deployment discussions. The direct sales force is currently fully consumed by managing the high volume of deals originating through these partner channels. H1 gross margin of 48.9% was impacted by lower-margin loyalty and professional services used as customer onboarding enablers. Core agentic commerce platform margins exceed 90%, and management expects overall margins to trend upward as software revenue scales. Current cash reserves are sufficient for day-to-day operations; future capital needs would likely be tied to strategic M&A opportunities. Management believes the long-term revenue potential from the Google relationship alone could reach billions of dollars. The technology was selected from a field of 24 competitors, serving as a major external validation of Rezolve's proprietary database architecture. Management claims a first-mover advantage, stating that while competitors engage in 'hand waving,' Rezolve has actual infrastructure and products in live deployment. The company's infrastructure was specifically built to handle the 100x volume increases expected when AI agents interrogate hundreds of sites simultaneously.

Nvidia's (NASDAQ: NVDA) second-quarter 2027 (ended July 26, 2026) earnings report made the usual point in unusually large numbers. Data center revenue reached $89 billion during the quarter, up 18% from the prior quarter and 117% year over year. What I think matters more than the headline figure is the bifurcation inside that number. Hyperscale customers generated $48.7 billion in revenue, up 13% sequentially and 102% from a year ago. The AI Clouds, Industrial, and Enterprise group (ACIE) generated $40.3 billion, an increase of 25% from last quarter and 138% year over year. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue » While big tech is still the largest buyer of Nvidia's systems, it is no longer the fastest growing. That shift changes how the AI story should be read. The hyperscale bucket primarily revolves around the public cloud oligopoly: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). These companies aren't buying Nvidia's products as a hobby. They buy them because GPU clusters have become a scarce resource supporting training runs, large-scale inference deployments, and the rented capacity that developers consume. Despite designing its own Trainium, Inferentia, and Graviton silicon, AWS remains one of Nvidia's largest customers. The reason is simple: Nvidia's GPUs and CPUs play a critical role in how start-ups, labs, and enterprises rent Blackwell and Rubin chips from cloud providers without owning their own facilities packed with liquid-cooled racks. Azure has bound itself to this same stack. Microsoft's Copilot suite, OpenAI-related training, and Azure-OpenAI services all rely on Nvidia systems. This structure is unique, as it makes Microsoft both a customer of and a distribution channel for Nvidia. Google Cloud also designs its own custom silicon, called Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). Even so, Alphabet still buys enormous quantities of Nvidia hardware. One reason why is that many customers want access to CUDA, Nvidia's software ecosystem that runs on top of its GPUs. This makes the ability to move AI workloads across clouds much more efficient. For now, Google's TPUs cannot serve that type of demand on its own. Taken together, these three cloud hyperscalers form the floor supporting Nvidia's data center operation. By signing multiyear capacity plans they essentially turn Nvidia's racks into an infrastructure-as-a-service empire. When revenue from the hyperscalers more than doubles in a year, it is evidence that the largest buyers see returns on procuring more accelerators. It is not evidence, however, that the GPU market only has three buyers. Analyzing the results from the ACIE customers is where Nvidia's story gets more interesting. Nvidia describes this category as AI natives, enterprises, sovereign customers, and the specialist clouds -- neoscalers like CoreWeave and Nebius Group -- that sit between a hyperscaler and a data center. During the second quarter, this mix of customers grew almost twice as fast sequentially as hyperscale. Over the last year, it grew even faster. This is unique because it shows that AI budgets are not recycled through the same three offices. An AI cloud is an emerging kind of intermediary, one that buys Nvidia's chips, packs them into clusters, and leases capacity to companies that never need to negotiate with a chip designer directly. Industrial and enterprise buyers are even different. Manufacturers running digital twins on the factory floor, a bank assessing risk, or a government designing a sovereign cluster is far more complex than a corporation simply increasing its operating budget to rent incremental storage on AWS. This distinction is important because skeptics seem to think that the AI revolution is confined to Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet. This gives bears an excuse to call AI a circular trade. Cloud giants spend on GPUs so they can sell AI services whose customers are none other than frontier model developers. But when ACIE customers outgrow the hyperscalers, Nvidia's roster of buyers becomes larger. This proves that demand is moving beyond a small cohort of platform businesses to a broader class that also needs generative models for production use cases, not just for platform differentiators. Most importantly, rising sales from ACIE dampens the AI bubble argument. A bubble story has to explain why Nvidia's non-hyperscale book is accelerating. A new class of buyers means the capex supercycle is developing a second demand curve, and second demand curves are how infrastructure booms wind up creating new industries. Don't get me wrong: this analysis is not to say that hyperscalers have become unimportant. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud still remain the clearinghouses for much of the world's rented compute. Enterprise software names that are able to attach new AI-driven use cases to customer licenses will benefit if the ACIE demand is in fact real. At the end of the day, hyperscalers still need Nvidia's systems to keep their AI products competitive. Neoscalers need GPUs and public clouds to exist to even have a viable business. Enterprises and sovereign governments rely on Nvidia's ecosystem spanning software, networking, and rack-scale design. This is all to say that accelerating ACIE growth shows how Nvidia's customer base is widening while the pick-and-shovel layer of capacity remains fairly concentrated. Investors that fixate on the three cloud giants are stuck watching the first chapter of the AI narrative. Meanwhile, those watching enterprise software without asking who supplies the underlying compute are distracted by a third chapter that is still being written. The second chapter -- the one Nvidia's quarter actually highlights -- shines a light on the vendor that sells the AI factory to both. If AI adoption is truly broadening rather than looping, then Nvidia's scarce, high-margin systems will continue to be where evidence shows up first. In my eyes, that's what makes Nvidia such a no-brainer stock to buy and hold in the AI infrastructure era. Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $440,710!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,335,252!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by nearly 5x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 30, 2026. Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Nvidia's Earnings Reveal a New Buyer Class Outgrowing Microsoft, Google and Amazon was originally published by The Motley Fool

Earlier this year, Astera Labs, Inc. (ALAB) was highlighted for significantly outperforming its Computer and Technology peers, supported by improved earnings estimate trends and a top Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy). This shift in analyst expectations and sentiment suggests the market is increasingly focused on Astera Labs’ earnings power as a core part of its AI connectivity story. Now we’ll examine how this stronger analyst sentiment around Astera Labs’ earnings outlook could reshape the company’s existing investment narrative. The best AI stocks today may lie beyond giants like Nvidia and Microsoft. Find the next big opportunity with these 18 smaller AI-focused companies with strong growth potential through early-stage innovation in machine learning, automation, and data intelligence that could fund your retirement. To own Astera Labs, you need to believe in long-term AI data center buildout and the company’s role in high value interconnects. The recent recognition for outperforming peers and improved earnings estimates reinforces the near term catalyst around execution on Scorpio switches and AI deployments. It does not fundamentally change the biggest risk, which remains Astera’s dependence on hyperscaler AI capex and a concentrated customer base in a fast moving connectivity market. The recent Q2 2026 earnings report, with US$392.4 million in sales and US$153.09 million in net income, is the most relevant backdrop to this sentiment shift. Strong reported results and raised guidance for Q3 2026 place even more weight on Scorpio P and upcoming Scorpio X ramping smoothly, while intensifying questions about valuation, competitive pressure from larger chipmakers, and how resilient demand will be if AI spending patterns evolve. Yet investors should also be aware of how quickly customer concentration and technology shifts could matter if AI data center spending slows... Read the full narrative on Astera Labs (it's free!) Astera Labs' narrative projects $3.8 billion revenue and $1.1 billion earnings by 2029. Uncover how Astera Labs' forecasts yield a $391.77 fair value, a 35% upside to its current price. While consensus already flagged hyperscaler dependence as a key risk, the most optimistic analysts were assuming revenue could reach about US$6.1 billion by 2029 and earnings about US$1.7 billion, which is far more bullish than the baseline and could look different once this latest analyst upgrade and outperformance are fully reflected. Explore 11 other fair value estimates on Astera Labs - why the stock might be worth as much as 73% more than the current price! Don't just follow the ticker - dig into the data and build a conviction that's truly your own. A great starting point for your Astera Labs research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 3 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision. Our free Astera Labs research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Astera Labs' overall financial health at a glance. Our top stock finds are flying under the radar-for now. Get in early: Invest in the nuclear renaissance through our list of 92 elite nuclear energy infrastructure plays powering the global AI revolution. The future of work is here. Discover the 38 top robotics and automation stocks leading the charge in AI-driven automation and industrial transformation. AI is about to change healthcare. These 39 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10b in market cap - there's still time to get in early. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include ALAB. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) posted stellar second-quarter results at the end of July, beating the street's estimates thanks to higher oil prices, increased production volumes, and strong margins. However, even bigger news is that Chevron has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to build a natural gas-powered facility to power Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) artificial intelligence (AI)-focused data center in Texas. The move comes as hyperscalers scramble to find energy for the ever-growing data center footprints. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue » For Chevron, it locks in long-term revenue, insulating it from volatile commodity prices. Here are details of its recent deal and what it means for Chevron investors. On June 22, Chevron inked a 20-year take-or-pay power purchase agreement with Microsoft to provide electricity for a Microsoft-operated data center. The agreement is part of Project Kilby, in which Chevron (through its subsidiary Energy Forge One), Engine No. 1, and Microsoft are working together to develop roughly 2.67 gigawatts (GW) of on-site power. As part of this project, most of the power will come from GE Vernova's gas-powered turbines and related infrastructure. Additional capacity will come from Solar Turbines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar. The modular approach enables the project to add capacity over time, and the power plant is expected to begin supplying power by 2028. Chevron plays a key role as a co-investor and developer through Energy Forge One, as well as a fuel provider. Chevron will supply natural gas from its Permian Basin production field directly to the power plant, while Energy Forge One will manage the long-term operations, including maintenance and water management systems. The move into AI data centers provides Chevron with a targeted, high-margin commercial expansion. This behind-the-meter data center allows Chevron to use associated natural gas, a byproduct of crude oil drilling. Because of limited capacity, companies often have to burn off excess gas, but now Chevron has a place to redirect it as hyperscalers seek baseload energy from natural gas turbines. The 20-year PPA take-or-pay contract provides Chevron with stable revenue over the life of the contract. The take-or-pay model ensures Chevron recovers its investment and eliminates upstream gas price volatility, while Microsoft secures scarce energy decades in advance. The AI data center build-out continues to reveal the true bottleneck for hyperscalers: reliable power. This deal helps Chevron add another revenue stream benefiting from AI's secular growth and could pave the way for more deals in the future. It's the kind of news long-term investors should pay closer attention to. Before you buy stock in Chevron, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Chevron wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $440,710!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,335,252!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 978% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 213% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 29, 2026. Courtney Carlsen has positions in Chevron, GE Vernova, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Caterpillar, Chevron, GE Vernova, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Chevron's Microsoft Data Center Deal Was a Bigger Story Than Its Earnings. Here's Why. was originally published by The Motley Fool

The earnings season for Magnificent 7 stocks for the current reporting season is over after Nvidia (NVDA) reported its fiscal Q2 2027 earnings on Aug. 26. While the earnings season began on a sour note after Tesla (TSLA) plunged following its Q2 confessional, it ended on a buoyant note with Nvidia rising 8.7% and adding over $400 billion to its market cap. Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) were the only Mag 7 names to see double-digit gains after their June quarter earnings. However, while Microsoft has continued to rip higher and now trades above $500, Amazon has pared some of the post-earnings gains. Let's examine why AMZN has looked weak in recent weeks and analyze the stock's forecast. Why Options Traders Are Betting That Marvell Technology Stock Could Soon Hit $300 Sandisk Stock Could Nearly Double to $3,000, According to Wall Street Nancy Pelosi Buys Intel. What Comes Next and If You Should Buy INTC Stock Too. Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines. To begin, I found AMZN’s sharp rally after Q2 earnings to be a bit of an overreaction. While the report was encouraging, particularly the 37% year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth that Amazon Web Services (AWS) delivered, the report wasn’t as stellar as Microsoft's. Amazon’s Q3 guidance also trailed estimates, and the company raised its 2026 capex budget by 10% to $220 billion. On a similar note, Amazon recently said that it would add another 2 million Nvidia GPUs between 2027 and 2028. While that would be music to the ears of Nvidia investors, it also implies that Amazon’s burgeoning capex—already the highest among all tech companies—is not coming down anytime soon. Tech companies, including Amazon, are posting negative free cash flows and are raising capital to build the war chest for AI infrastructure buildout even as investors are increasingly wary of the spending spree. There are also lingering concerns over Amazon’s U.S. e-commerce business after Walmart (WMT) spooked markets with its recent quarterly earnings. It was not a one-off, and retailers across the board have been cautioning about consumer spending, particularly among low- and middle-income households as higher gas prices start pinching monthly budgets. After Amazon’s Q2 earnings, several brokerages raised the stock’s target price. Looking at some of the significant hikes, Raymond James raised its target price from $280 to $390, while Goldman Sachs raised its target price from $335 to $375. Last week, Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage on Amazon with a “Buy” rating and a target price of $335. The overall analyst sentiment remains bullish, and AMZN stock has a “Strong Buy” consensus rating from the 57 analysts tracked by Barchart. Forty-nine give it a “Strong Buy” rating, six rate it as a “Moderate Buy” while two rate it as a “Hold.” AMZN is the highest-rated Mag 7 stock, while TSLA ranks lowest with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy.” AMZN stock has a mean target price of $326.49, which is 23% higher than current levels. While concerns over AI capex and retail spending slowdown in the U.S. are for real, I believe investors should stay put in Amazon. The company has built an enviable ecosystem, which would only get better with AI. Notably, not only has AI helped put AWS’s growth on a higher pedestal, but the company is also using the technology to improve customer experience on its e-commerce platform. It is also using AI in logistics while helping advertisers make their ads more engaging and, in the process, more effective. Prime is another key part of Amazon’s flywheel, as it not only brings in subscription and ad revenues, but these customers also tend to order more frequently on its e-commerce platform. The company has still just about scratched the surface in initiatives like grocery, pharmacy, and business-to-business (B2B), as well as the low-cost platform Haul, which would help it take on the likes of Temu and Shein. AMZN stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) of 35.5x, which is not exuberant for a company whose earnings are expected to rise 32% next year. Concerns about tech companies overinvesting in AI are not unfounded, nor are the circular deals in which they are investing downstream in their customers (cloud in Amazon’s case). However, I believe Amazon’s risk-reward is reasonably attractive here, and I see the recent weakness as an opportunity to add shares. On the date of publication, Mohit Oberoi had a position in: AMZN, TSLA, MSFT, NVDA. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com