3 US Stocks To Watch In August 2026 After Big Earnings Week
The newest earnings week has handed traders a transparent shortlist of US shares to observe in August. Three of the market’s largest corporations simply reported, and Wall Street cut up its verdict between reward and punishment.
The divide got here down to 1 check, which AI spender may show that clients are paying for the construct. It left the winners with sturdy setups and one laggard going through a cautious street into August.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Microsoft soared about 15% to close $451 after its July 29 outcomes, its greatest bounce in months. Trading quantity, the variety of shares altering arms, hit its highest since June 22, which exhibits sturdy conviction behind the shopping for.
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Yet the rally is just not totally convincing. That quantity nonetheless sits beneath the heavy promoting of late June, so patrons haven’t totally overpowered sellers.
The Chaikin Money Flow (CMF), a gauge of whether or not institutional cash is flowing into or out of a inventory, exhibits the identical doubt. It practically turned unfavorable earlier than earnings, then rose to 0.04 as huge traders reacted. It nonetheless sits beneath its July 24 peak, and it should reclaim that degree to substantiate establishments are actually shopping for.
The fundamentals clarify the bounce. Microsoft spent $41 billion on capital expenditure, the price of constructing AI information facilities, however backed it with a $678 billion book of signed buyer contracts. That locked-in demand proves the spending is funded by actual orders, which is the bullish case. It additionally guided Azure cloud growth towards 45%, and sooner development at that scale factors to rising future income.
Wall Street agrees. The inventory holds a Strong Buy ranking, with 24 of 25 corporations on Buy, signaling broad expectations of extra upside.
Only Barclays trimmed its goal, a lone warning that matches the smooth quantity.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Amazon carries the strongest analyst support of the three, making it one of many extra bullish US shares to observe into August. All 28 masking corporations fee it Buy, with none on Hold or Sell, and each main desk raised its value goal after earnings. That uncommon unanimity offers Amazon the cleanest bull case of the week.
Options positioning backs that optimism. The put-to-call quantity ratio, which compares bearish bets in opposition to bullish ones, fell from 0.74 to 0.54 into the print, which means merchants purchased way more calls and leaned bullish.
The open curiosity ratio, the standing possibility contracts already in place, held regular at 0.66. That exhibits longer-term cash has not totally dedicated but, which leaves room for brand new patrons to carry the inventory in August.
The enterprise explains the boldness. Amazon Web Services, its cloud arm, reaccelerated, and the corporate disclosed a $496 billion backlog of signed buyer demand. When Alphabet and Meta raised their AI spending, traders offered each shares, fearing spending with no confirmed payoff. Amazon raised spending too, however its backlog proved clients had already agreed to pay, so the inventory rose as a substitute.
There is a catch value figuring out. Amazon’s headline (*3*) reads like an enormous beat, however most of it got here from a one-time paper achieve on its Anthropic stake, not from the core enterprise. Strip that out, and revenue nonetheless rose a wholesome 43%, so the bull case holds. The actual strain is money, as a result of heavy AI spending has pushed free cash flow, the cash an organization retains after constructing, into the purple over the previous 12 months.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META)
Meta is the outlier among the many prime US shares to observe. The inventory fell about 8% to close $539 and now sits roughly 23% beneath its mid-July high.
The downside is money, not gross sales. Revenue grew 28%, however free cash flow collapsed to $784 million from $8.55 billion a 12 months earlier. Capex practically swallowed all of the money the enterprise generated, so Meta leaned on about $25 billion of new debt to maintain funding its dividend, which unsettles traders.
Unlike Microsoft and Amazon, the opposite two US shares to observe, Meta disclosed no backlog of signed demand, so it can not but show the AI construct will repay. Its core apps additionally earned much less, as Family of Apps operating income, the revenue from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, slipped to $23.4 billion from $25 billion. The strongest advert engine on earth delivered a weaker backside line.
The chart warns of extra threat. Meta’s CMF trended decrease at the same time as the worth climbed from early June to mid-July, and a deep correction adopted. It nonetheless has not cleared the 0.05 line that will affirm patrons are again, so the identical bearish drop may repeat.
Analysts keep loyal however nervous. Meta retains a Strong Buy, yet at least ten firms cut price targets overnight, together with Citi to $800 from $850.
That decrease ceiling with unchanged rankings alerts near-term warning even from believers.
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