Zacks Equity Research analysts featured five stocks in their blog: Microsoft benefits from AI momentum and Azure cloud growth but faces capacity constraints and competition; Intel's manufacturing recovery and AI roadmap support balanced growth despite supply constraints; Bank of America shows strong earnings and NII growth but faces expense pressures; AMREP's homebuilding and land bank provide flexibility but housing affordability concerns persist; United Bancorp expands net interest margins and deposits but credit quality has weakened.

A new Anaqua report analyzing 713,755 semiconductor patents reveals AI-related semiconductor patents grew 114% over five years, nearly double the 78% growth of overall semiconductor patents. The analysis shows AI is now the primary driver of semiconductor innovation across chip architecture, GPUs, and inference processors, with major players like Samsung, IBM, Intel, and Chinese entities leading in different AI-chip categories, while hyperscalers like Google and Microsoft increasingly design custom chips.

During the July-August 2026 U.S. tech earnings season, MEXC data shows storage and memory stocks dominated trading activity at 67.3%, with SK Hynix and Samsung earnings reports triggering significant volume spikes across related assets. Trading peaked outside earnings days for 60% of major tech companies tracked, with SK Hynix reaching peak volume 13 days after earnings following a major capital investment announcement.

Zacks Research Daily features analysis of 16 major stocks on August 31, 2026. Microsoft benefits from AI momentum and Azure growth but faces capacity constraints. Intel shows strong recovery with AI roadmap expansion but confronts supply constraints and competition. Bank of America outperforms with earnings beats and NII growth, though elevated expenses and weak asset quality are concerns. Additional coverage includes microcap stocks AMREP and United Bancorp, plus analysis of Eaton, United Airlines, and EMCOR.

Nvidia delivered strong Q2 earnings with 70% expected annual revenue growth for fiscal 2028, significantly exceeding Street expectations of 44%. The company is rapidly expanding into the CPU market with its new Vera CPU for AI agents, projecting $20 billion in CPU revenue for fiscal 2027 and expecting that to more than double in fiscal 2028. This aggressive expansion into CPUs—traditionally dominated by AMD and Intel—poses a competitive threat to both companies, though the growing agentic AI market may provide room for all players.

Rather than betting on which AI chip company will dominate, the author advocates for investing in electricity and utility stocks. Using a 'picks-and-shovels' investment strategy, he argues that regardless of which chipmaker wins the AI race, all AI systems require reliable electricity. He recommends utility stocks like NextEra Energy, Southern Company, Brookfield Renewable Partners, and Black Hills as safer bets that benefit from AI growth while providing dividend income.

Nvidia has built a $63.4 billion portfolio of AI infrastructure partners including Intel, SpaceX, CoreWeave, and Synopsys. As energy becomes a critical bottleneck for AI data center growth, Bloom Energy—a hydrogen fuel-cell company that recently crossed $1 billion in quarterly revenue and signed a $25 billion partnership with Brookfield Asset Management—emerges as a potential candidate for Nvidia investment.

Intel (INTC) closed at $89.47, down 2.85% in the latest trading session, underperforming the S&P 500's 0.25% loss. Despite the daily decline, the company is expected to report strong earnings with EPS projected at $0.39 (up 69.57% YoY) and revenue of $16.36 billion (up 19.85% YoY). However, Intel trades at a Forward P/E of 62.86, significantly above its industry average of 38.61, and holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) rating with a slight downward revision in consensus EPS estimates.

Nvidia has addressed a major competitive risk by securing an expanded partnership with Amazon Web Services, which agreed to purchase an additional 2 million GPUs over two years. Despite Amazon's success with its own custom chips ($25 billion annual revenue run rate), the company continues to heavily invest in Nvidia's latest innovations, demonstrating that multiple chip makers can coexist without threatening Nvidia's market leadership and growth prospects.

Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold upgraded AMD to strong buy with a $641 price target, citing optimistic growth in server CPUs driven by agentic AI demand. AMD expects server CPU revenue to grow over 80% year-over-year in H2 2026 and over 70% in 2027, with the CPU-to-GPU ratio in data centers shifting to 1-to-1. While AMD stock trades at a premium P/E ratio of 116, Leopold believes AMD offers the strongest combination of earnings leverage and market-share gains among competitors.

Hedge fund Coatue Management has made significant investments in both Broadcom and Intel in Q2 2026. While both stocks appear expensive by trailing P/E ratios, the article argues they should be evaluated on forward-looking metrics. Broadcom's custom AI chip business is expected to generate over $100 billion in revenue in 2027, trading at just 18x next year's earnings and appearing undervalued. Intel is rebuilding its foundry business with government support and strong operational cash flow, but at 43x forward earnings, much of its growth may already be priced in.

The global confidential computing market is projected to grow from $17.37 billion in 2025 to $1,425.71 billion by 2035, at a CAGR of 55.39%. Growth is driven by increasing demand for data-in-use security, AI adoption, and enterprise workload protection. North America leads with 40.50% market share, while Asia Pacific shows fastest growth. Software & Services dominates by component, though Hardware is the fastest-growing segment at 67.10% CAGR.