Investors looking for ways to find stocks that are set to beat quarterly earnings estimates should check out the Zacks Earnings ESP.

The Q2 earnings season has delivered some of the strongest corporate results in years, with S&P 500 companies reporting robust profit growth and a high rate of earnings beats.

During its recent earnings call, Amazon announced that it is raising its 2026 capex budget to $220 billion. CEO Andy Jassy says the spending is required to build out new data centers and bring more AI capacity online.

The setup is classic: a wounded stock paired with an intact franchise. Yet no deal for Snap (NYSE:SNAP | SNAP Price Prediction) has been announced or rumored, so this is a thought experiment.

Amazon's AI spending is settling a debate between the bulls and the bears. Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman spent Monday on Bloomberg Technology arguing that AWS's growth is only getting started.

August is when serious investors stop trading and start planning. With four full years remaining until 2030, the question worth asking today is which platform businesses have the earnings power, capital base, and AI monetization runway to compound at scale into the back half of the decade.

Investors are increasingly concerned about Meta's AI spending and its impact on the company's cash flow.

Amazon and Alphabet offer indirect exposure to Anthropic while also owning dominant, cash-generating businesses that can thrive regardless of the start-up's IPO outcome. Anthropic's value could boost both companies, but its stakes are still small relative to the overall size of these two tech giants.

FTNT, AMP, AMZN, VLO and APEMY have been added to the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) List on August 5th, 2026.

Amazon has a dominant positions in industries like e-commerce, cloud computing, digital advertising, streaming, and more. CEO Andy Jassy recently made a comment about the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform that should excite every shareholder.