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☆ What Alphabet and Microsoft are saying about A.I. on their earnings calls
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Second-quarter earnings season brought heavyweight technology giants and artificial intelligence frontrunners Alphabet and Microsoft head-to-head in an all-too-familiar matchup. Alphabet shares rose 6% after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and 28% year-over-year growth in cloud revenue, while Microsoft lost 4% on disappointing revenue guidance and a delayed AI rollout . GOOGL YTD mountain Alphabet shares in 2023 Both Alphabet and Microsoft have spearheaded the effort, facing off with competing chatbots early in the year. Alphabet Alphabet rolled out its Bard chatbot worldwide during the second quarter, removed a testing waitlist and added a host of new capabilities. Microsoft Despite confidence in Microsoft's long-term capabilities, some investors and analysts seemed disappointed by the seemingly delayed rollout of many of its AI products.

Persons: Bard, Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Ruth Porat, Goldman Sachs, Eric Sheridan, Amy Hood, Karl Keirstead, Satya Nadella, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, Wall, UBS

☆ How the right software solutions can help your business observe and secure its applications
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Cisco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

New digital business models generate immense growth opportunities, but also increase risk. Businesses need to move beyond traditional application monitoring to full stack observability to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities and ensure optimal performance. Cisco's Business Risk Observability is an enhancement upon and part of Cisco Full Stack Observability. Assessing risk with Cisco Full Stack ObservabilityCisco's Business Risk Observability helps shore up businesses from attacks and challenges. Find out more about how Cisco's Full Stack Observability can help you identify vulnerabilities.

Persons: Randy Birdsall, They're, Birdsall, We're, Cisco Kenna Organizations: Business, IT, IDC, Cisco AppDynamics, Cisco, Cisco Panoptica, Insider Studios

☆ Microsoft shares fall after earnings report as analysts process a delayed A.I. ramp
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft shares were trading down as much as 5% on Wednesday, a day after the software maker issued worse-than-expected quarterly revenue guidance. Microsoft has been increasing its capital expenditures to get infrastructure in place to provide AI services to developers at other companies and roll out assistant capabilities to apps such as Word and Outlook. The extra spending cuts into Microsoft's cloud gross margin. "The messaging on Copilot was more about tempering rather than inflating expectations," wrote UBS analysts led by Karl Keirstead, which also has a buy rating on Microsoft. Raymond James' Andrew Marok and Mauricio Munoz, with the equivalent of a buy rating on Microsoft shares, had a similar tone.

Persons: Amy Hood, Mark Murphy, Karl Keirstead, It's, Brad Reback, Raymond James, Andrew Marok, Mauricio Munoz, Satya Nadella, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, JPMorgan, UBS

☆ Microsoft is 'in the lead' with new cloud-based A.I. workloads, CEO Nadella says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

1 when it comes to selling cloud-based AI services. The concept of AI has been around longer than Microsoft, and Microsoft has been running AI models for other companies for several years. That's the reason Microsoft has disclosed how much of the expected Azure cloud growth will come from AI for the past two quarters, Nadella said. That could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in new Azure AI revenue. "There are two parts to even the AI," Nadella said.

Persons: Satya Nadella couldn't, Microsoft's, Nadella, Bing, OpenAI, Amy Hood, Adam Crisafulli Organizations: Microsoft, Bing, Google, Windows, OpenAI

☆ A sci-fi magazine editor says his team are sent so many 'consistently bad' AI-generated articles that their workload has almost doubled
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A magazine editor told CNN his team struggled to review the huge volume of articles generated by AI. Employees at a small sci-fi and fantasy publication say new AI-powered tools are making their jobs harder. He said his team's workloads had almost doubled and they'd struggled to review a stream of "consistently bad" AI-generated content. However, AI-powered tools come with various issues, including a tendency to invent or "hallucinate" facts. Technology publication CNET was forced to issue a string of corrections on several articles after errors were discovered in its AI-generated articles.

Persons: Neil Clarke, workloads, they'd, Clarke Organizations: CNN, Employees, Technology, CNET

☆ Microsoft's latest A.I. subscription is boosting Wall Street's confidence in the software giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Analysts are turning more bullish on Microsoft and its artificial intelligence capabilities after the software giant revealed pricing for its A.I. Shares closed at a record Tuesday after Microsoft revealed a $30 fee for its monthly Copilot offering, which adds AI capabilities to Microsoft 365. The announcements led to a handful of Wall Street price target adjustments, as the company solidifies its dominance in the latest technology revolution consuming the investing community. The analyst has an overweight rating on the stock and raised his price target to $385 per share from $350. The analyst hiked his price target to $400 from $330.

Persons: chatbot, Microsoft's, Amy Hood, Mark Murphy, James, Brad Sills, Sills, Brad Zelnick, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, Meta, Bank of America Locations: ChatGPT

☆ The cloud uses massive amounts of energy. Generative AI will be way worse. A Microsoft data center veteran warns big changes are coming.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Training AI models in data centers uses up to three times more energy than traditional cloud tasks. A warning from a Microsoft data center veteranA Microsoft data center. MicrosoftTom Keane, who oversaw Microsoft's cloud data centers for about two decades, recently warned about this. An AI data center will need up to three times more power than a traditional cloud facility, he estimated. "The data center of the future is not in Virginia, it's not in Santa Clara, it's not in Dallas, Texas," Ganzi said.

Persons: Marc Ganzi, Cowen, Nammo, TikTok, Jack Clark, Matthew Barakat, Shaolei Ren, Microsoft Tom Keane, Keane, Bernstein, Mark Moerdler, DigitalBridge, Ganzi, it's, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Dominion Energy, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, McKinsey, Big Tech, Financial Times, AP, Nvidia, UC Riverside Locations: Northern Virginia, Manassas , Virginia, Virginia, DataBank, Santa Clara, Dallas , Texas

☆ New IT spending survey bodes well for 7 tech stocks in A.I. to cloud to cybersecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Analysts at Morgan Stanley published the results of their second-quarter CIO survey, providing valuable insight into information technology budget expectations. Cloud and cybersecurity Digging a bit deeper, the survey reveals that cloud computing and security software remain the top two priorities for CIOs followed by artificial intelligence/machine learning. The analysts singled out Microsoft as the most exposed to the two major themes of the survey — generative AI via ChatGPT and cloud consumption via Azure. Cloud and AI enablers All of this also bodes well for the names that make cloud computing, generative AI, and LLMs possible. Importantly, the demand is not only coming from cloud service providers (CSPs) but also from enterprise players and AI startups.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Bard, Dell, Salesforce, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Bing, Jonathan Raa Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Web Services, Club, Software, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Palo Alto Networks, Alto, Nvidia, Devices, AMD, CNBC, Nurphoto, Getty

Prime Day ends tonight, but you can still snag some of the best laptop deals if you act fast. Top 3 Prime Day laptop dealsThe best Prime Day Windows laptop dealsWindows laptops from Dell, HP, and more are on sale. $1,499.99 from Best Buy Originally $2,049.99 Save 27%The best Prime Day Apple MacBook dealsThere are stellar deals on several MacBook models. Deal MSI Katana 15 Gaming Laptop MSI is a top-tier PC gaming brand, and this Katana 15 laptop is more than $200 off on Prime Day. As we note in our best gaming laptops guide, a refresh rate of 165Hz is the industry standard for a high-quality gaming monitor.

Persons: There's, Crystal Cox, It's, Max, you've, Price, William Antonelli, That's Organizations: HP, Aero, Dell, Business, AMD, Amazon, Microsoft, MacBook, Apple's, ASUS, Intel, Nvidia

Some of the best laptop deals include a discounted version of one of the best gaming laptops currently available, the Acer Nitro 5, which you can pick up for just $739 at Amazon. Top 3 Prime Day laptop dealsThe best Prime Day Windows laptop dealsWindows laptops from Dell, HP, and more are on sale. This $106 discount is close to the best price we've seen for this model. $1,499.99 from Best Buy Originally $2,049.99 Save 27%The best Prime Day Apple MacBook dealsThere are stellar deals on several MacBook models. As we note in our best gaming laptops guide, a refresh rate of 165Hz is the industry standard for a high-quality gaming monitor.

Persons: There's, Crystal Cox, It's, Max, you've, Price, William Antonelli Organizations: HP, Aero, Dell, Business, AMD, Amazon, Microsoft, MacBook, Apple's, Apple, Pro, Nvidia

☆ We know A.I. is big for Nvidia. But new estimates of just how big are staggering
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

NVDA YTD mountain Nvidia YTD performance Nvidia shares have, of course, been a stellar performer so far this year due in large part to its AI dominance. To estimate Nvidia's AI revenue opportunity, Goldman broke it down into two computing categories: training and inference. Here's a chart that shows how Goldman sees Nvidia's AI revenue opportunities shaking out from calendar year 2023 through calendar 2025 in each category. To put Goldman's AI computing revenue estimates into perspective: Nvidia's entire companywide revenue over the past three fiscal years totaled $70.5 billion. Goldman's fresh look at the AI opportunity also served as the basis for boosted earnings estimates for Nvidia.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Jim Cramer, Jim, NVDA, Goldman —, Goldman, Jensen Huang, Biden, Colette Kress, — Goldman, Jim Cramer's, Justin Sullivan Organizations: Nvidia, Apple, Goldman, CNBC Locations: China

Morgan Stanley raised its Microsoft stock outlook to the highest on Wall Street, implying the company once famous for Windows software will climb above a market value of $3 trillion because of artificial intelligence. The generative AI boom has already helped propel Microsoft's stock by almost 41% year to date — and Morgan Stanley's new price target implies it will climb another 23% over the next 12 months. Weiss raised his price target on Microsoft by 24%, to $415 from $335. Morgan Stanley called Microsoft its top pick among large-cap software stocks on account of the company's strong positioning in the generative AI boom. MSFT YTD mountain Microsoft stock Weiss said Microsoft has taken a "leading position" providing the "picks and shovels" of the AI boom — large language models, data management and other technologies.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, —, Morgan, Keith Weiss, Weiss, FactSet, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, Windows, Software, OpenAI

☆ Companies start to recognize the importance of 'out of office' time to reduce employee burnout
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Stephanie Dhue | Stephanie-Dhue | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

watch nowThe benefits of time away from workMore employers are recognizing the need to reduce employee burnout, as employees report overall better mental health, increased job satisfaction, and being more engaged and productive upon returning from vacation. Yet it's still a challenge for many workers to disengage from the office. "In order to maintain your overall health, you need to take time for yourself time to replenish, time to recharge yourself and time to disconnect," said Michelle Bonam, Ceridian's vice president of organizational effectiveness. Why some professionals don't take time offFear of missing out is one reason why many professionals stay plugged in or don't take vacation time. In order to maintain your overall health, you need to take time for yourself.

Persons: it's, Michelle Bonam Organizations: Istock, Getty Locations: U.S, Ceridian

☆ Bank of America's top stock picks for the third quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Bank of America is out with its latest short-term stock picks as the third trading quarter of the year gets underway. "Over the last quarter, the BofA Macro view has evolved," strategist Anthony Cassamassino wrote in a note Monday. Bank of America gathered its 10 best ideas for the new quarter, all of them buy-rated, Cassamassino said. The bank also sees multiple growth drivers this year and improvements in merchandise margins as cost inflation and freight expenses normalize. Its $135 price target on the stock is more than 50% above its closing price Friday.

Persons: Anthony Cassamassino, Savita Subramanian, Michael Hartnett, Michael Gapen, Stephen Suttmeier, Cassamassino, it's, Lamb Weston, Wells, defensibility Organizations: of America, U.S, Our U.S . Economist, " Bank of America, Body, Bank of America, Disney, Wells Fargo Locations: Our

☆ 68% of Americans report that they work on vacation—3 tips for time off that's restful, not stressful
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

This summer, workers might be feeling more heat from their overused laptops than beach-time sun. The winter brought flurries of layoffs that left companies across industries with less labor power. The result: 68% of Americans report that they work on vacation, according to a May survey from online learning platform Elvtr. According to a report by market research firm Harris Poll and the HR software platform Ceridian, 67% of American employees who planned to take a summer vacation this year say that might no longer be possible. Now, the workation seems to have become a requirement in some sectors.

Persons: Harris, — Organizations: Harris Poll Locations: Canada

☆ Los Angeles hotel workers strike over wages, housing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, July 2 (Reuters) - Thousands of hotel workers in Los Angeles, California, went on strike on Sunday morning as they pushed for better wages and benefits, kicking off what was expected to be one of the largest U.S. hotel strikes in recent history. [1/4]People protest in front of Hotel Indigo as unionized hotel workers in Los Angeles and Orange County go on strike, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 2, 2023. REUTERS/David SwansonContracts expired June 30 at 62 Southern California hotels, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Westin Bonaventure, the biggest hotel in Los Angeles, came to an agreement with its workers just a day before the expiration, the union said. The Los Angeles area has been the scene of other strikes or walkout threats in recent months.

Persons: David Swanson, Gabriella Borter, Mary Milliken, Josie Kao Organizations: Orange Counties, InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Resorts, Hotel, REUTERS, Los Angeles Times, Westin Bonaventure, SAG, Thomson Locations: ANGELES, Los Angeles , California, U.S, Los Angeles, Orange, Indigo, Orange County, California, Hollywood

☆ As the South Stews, Temperatures Are Set to Rise in the West, Too
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Emily Cochrane | Judson Jones | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When forecasters predicted that oppressive heat would settle over much of the South for days this month, one of the first thoughts for staff members at the Mobile Botanical Gardens was how to protect their most sensitive plants. But with the prolonged heat now stretching toward the weekend, their focus has shifted to the safety of the people drawn to the gardens, particularly tourists unfamiliar with the mental and physical toll of the steamy conditions. “This heat is a different animal,” said Robin Krchak, the gardens’ executive director, who now closes online ticket sales at noon to encourage visitors to come in the relative cool of the mornings. The few employees and volunteers who keep the gardens humming are arriving earlier or cutting their workloads short to avoid heatstroke and heat stress.

Persons: ”, Robin Krchak

☆ Tech stocks close out best first half in 40 years, powered by Apple rally and Nvidia boom
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Ari Levy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Apple CEO Tim Cook stands next to the new Apple Vision Pro headset is displayed during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 05, 2023 in Cupertino, California. The last time technology stocks had a better first half, Apple was touting its Lisa desktop computer, IBM was the most-valuable tech company in the U.S. and Mark Zuckerberg hadn't been born. It's a startling achievement, given what's happened in the tech industry over the past four decades. Meta and Tesla , which both got hammered last year, have more than doubled in value so far in 2023. Nvidia shares soared 190% in the first half, lifting the 30-year-old company's market cap past $1 trillion.

Persons: Tim Cook, Apple, Mark Zuckerberg hadn't, Zuckerberg, Tesla, OpenAI, Bryn Talkington, CNBC's Organizations: Apple, Apple Vision, Apple Worldwide, IBM, Nasdaq, Microsoft, Silicon Valley Bank, Federal Reserve, Meta, Facebook, Google, Nvidia, Capital Management Locations: Cupertino , California, U.S

☆ Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, Apple, Carnival, Snowflake, Nike, SolarEdge and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Jefferies upgrades Carnival to buy from hold Jefferies said it sees a "confluence of positive dynamics" for Carnival. Citi initiates Apple as buy Citi said it sees further upside for the tech giant, slapping a Street-high $240 price target. Citi initiates Dell as buy Citi said the computer maker is gaining share. Goldman Sachs reiterates Nike as buy Goldman Sachs said it's standing by shares of Nike after the company's earnings report Thursday. " Bank of America reiterates T-Mobile as buy Bank of America said the stock is "undervalued."

Persons: TD Cowen, Cowen, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Jefferies, Snowflake, Virgin, Daiwa, NKE, Stephens, SolarEdge, Riley, Stifel, Davidson Organizations: Citi, Pacific Biosciences, Pacific Bioscience, Jefferies, Deutsche Bank, Apple, Dell, Bank of America, Virgin Galactic, underperform Bank of America, Virgin Galactic's, Italian Air Force, AMD, Intel, Nike, BMO, FirstService Brands, Occidental Petroleum, Mobile, Southwestern Energy Locations: 3Q23, China, Occidental, midstream

☆ Microsoft is developing cutting-edge AI chips to 'close the gap' with AWS, internal documents show
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft is betting on making its own AI chips for long-term growth, new internal documents show. Cloud market leader AWS is lagging behind Microsoft in AI efforts. Microsoft is betting on developing its own silicon chips to drive long-term growth for its cloud business, newly-released internal strategy documents confirm. It hopes the chip will outperform the ones it buys from vendors to save money on its high-cost AI efforts. Wall Street was less impressed by the AI efforts AWS touted on its earnings call a few days later.

Persons: We're, Satya Nadella, Bernstein, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Microsoft, FTC, Activision Blizzard, AWS, Federal Trade Commission, Companies, Apple, Google, Amazon Web Services

☆ The best stocks now that the 'age of A.I. is upon us,' according to Jefferies
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The emergence of OpenAI's large-language model ChatGPT has spurred investor excitement over AI, helping stocks with direct or perceived exposure to AI soar. AI stocks led the stock market in the first half of the year, with leading AI chipmaker Nvidia touching a $1 trillion market capitalization in May. Jefferies maintains a buy rating on Alphabet stock with a $150 per share price target, or about 25% upside from Wednesday's $120.18 close. The bank has a $280 per share price target on the Facebook parent, or about 2% below Wednesday's $285.29 close. Thill "believes META is best positioned to take advantage of the AI opportunity vs. social peers TikTok and Snap," the Jefferies report said.

Persons: Jefferies, isn't, Mark Lipacis, Mark, Bard, Brent Thill, Lloyd Byrne, TikTok Organizations: Jefferies Equity Research, Nvidia, Intel, Microsoft, Jefferies, Google, Chevron, . Energy, Facebook

☆ Evercore ISI thinks these stocks will benefit the most from the A.I. boom
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Investors should look to stocks that enhance productivity as companies seek to replace scarce labor with machines, according to Evercore ISI. The chart below includes two stocks Emanuel found for each use case. The stock has surged more than 50% since the start of 2023, rebounding along with other technology stocks after 2022's sell-off. Equinix shares have risen nearly 17% year to date and Evercore ISI expects shares to advance another 8.5%. The stock should also be helped by reshoring trends, as well as its investments in AI and improving labor productivity, Emanuel said.

Persons: Julian Emanuel, Emanuel, Evercore, There's, Zscaler, ZS, Ingersoll Rand, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: ISI, CNBC Pro Locations: Tuesday's

☆ OpenAI-powered app from Microsoft is coming to Epic Systems to help save doctors time
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft's speech recognition subsidiary Nuance Communications on Tuesday announced its AI-powered clinical notes application is coming to Epic Systems to help reduce physicians' administrative workloads. Epic is a health care software company that helps hospitals and other health systems store, share and access electronic health records. More than 500,000 physicians and 306 million patients across the globe use Epic's offerings, and the company has long-standing partnerships with both Microsoft and Nuance. Nuance told CNBC Tuesday that integrating its latest solution, Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Express, into Epic is a "major step" toward that goal. "The last thing they want to do is pajama time," Peter Durlach, chief strategy officer at Nuance told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.

Persons: DAX, Garrett Adams, Peter Durlach, Adams, Durlach Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Tuesday, Epic Systems, Microsoft, CNBC, American Medical Association, DAX Express Locations: Lisbon, Portugal, U.S, HIPAA

☆ Jim Cramer: Here's my outlook on stocks for the rest of 2023 — and how I'm playing it
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

A 6% solution to no inflation from the stock market. But not enough, again, because of the wave of money that's now flowing through the sand of the economy. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

Persons: —, Jensen Huang, Jensen, ChatGPT, Leonardo Da Vinci, Tesla, Elon, let's, Jerome Powell, Powell, Joseph Stalin, dismissively, FANG, That's, Wall, LEN, Salesforces, Cook, Zuckerberg, Huang, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Jim Cramer Rob Kim Organizations: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Treasury, Federal Reserve, Tesla, Fed, Boeing, Devices, Adobe, Toll, Royal, Holdings, Musk, Jim Cramer's Charitable, CNBC Locations: Ukraine, Royal Caribbean

☆ Bank of America sees these 3 names benefiting from the A.I. networking chip war
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Nvidia reigns as the dominant artificial intelligence play, but investors may also want to keep an eye on networking chip stocks Marvell Technology and Broadcom , according to Bank of America. Networking semiconductors play a critical role in the graphics processing units underpinning many generative AI models, and these names should benefit from long-term demand for their Ethernet networking offerings, according to senior analyst Vivek Arya. Still, Arya labeled Nvidia as the best-positioned name. But all three stocks have gained this year as AI gains steam as an investment theme, with Nvidia soaring more than 195%. Broadcom and Marvell have added about 50% and 59%, respectively.

Persons: Vivek Arya, Marvell, Arya, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Marvell Technology, Broadcom, Bank of America, Nvidia, Marvell

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