Here are Monday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Disney, DoorDash, Coinbase & more
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CNET
14 minutes ago
- CNET
Amazon Might Bring Ads to Alexa Plus: Here's What That Could Mean for You
Amazon's Alexa could soon start pitching you more than just the weather. According to reporting from Amazon's July 31second-quarter earnings call, Amazon is considering adding ads to Alexa Plus, its premium AI-driven assistant that's designed to be more conversational and useful than the Alexa you know. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said during the call that Alexa Plus could open the door to "significant financial opportunity" by delivering ads during conversations. A representative for Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Read more: I'm Still Waiting for Amazon's Big Alexa AI Upgrade. Here's What to Know About the Delay If the plan moves forward, it would mark a big shift for Alexa, which until now has mostly steered clear of overt advertising. For now, it's unclear what exactly such advertising would look like, but the idea is that Alexa Plus could showcase ads for products users may be interested in purchasing and highlight deals. Amazon hasn't confirmed any details yet, but the move wouldn't be too surprising. Alexa has struggled to make money for Amazon, and the company has been racing to give its voice assistant an AI upgrade that can compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. The thinking is that adding ads could help Amazon recoup some of those AI costs, but it might bring with it a more cluttered user experience. Read more: Meta's All In on AI Creating the Ads You See on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp Alexa Plus was announced in February earlier this year and is available for early access for those who own a compatible Echo device. The service costs $19.99 per month, but is free for Amazon Prime members. While there are no set plans for advertising in Alexa, it's worth keeping an eye on how Amazon plans to roll out these changes and whether you'll have the option to pay to skip the ads altogether.
Business Insider
15 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Procurement leaders talk about how AI changing the way they plan, report, and solve problems
Procurement is an integral function within companies, but today's global supply landscape demands that it go beyond its traditional cost-cutting mandate to be a strategic partner. " Resilient Growth: Navigating Procurement Complexity," a virtual event presented by Amazon Business, gathered leaders across industries to discuss different factors impacting today's procurement departments — and how data and AI play a role in its future. Speakers included Sandhya Dhir, head of new solution development at Amazon Business; Paula Glickenhaus, chief procurement officer at Bristol Myers Squibb; and Sheila Gundersen, managing director of global procurement and sourcing at SMBC Americas. The event was moderated by Shefali Kapadia, a contributor to Business Insider. Not surprisingly, all panelists agreed that AI is playing a role in how procurement departments are servicing the rest of the company. "AI is here to stay," Bristol Myers Squibb's Glickenhaus said. "In the past year, there's been a rapid surge of AI solutions and also an interest from stakeholders to understand how procurement can use AI to differentiate how we service the business, how we give them faster solutions, how we provide analytics forward." Dhir said one of the opportunities she sees for AI in procurement is to help with inefficient manual workflows or approval chains that result in bottlenecks and oversight. "AI can auto adapt to, or learn, each client's data and assign tasks within a workflow based on capacity or priority and internal resources," Amazon Business' Dhir said. "Workflows can automatically adapt based on user metrics and potential inefficiencies. And then on top of that, a solution can also leverage Gen AI and create guidance for resolutions such as recommendations of actions." She said when she's doing a task more than once, that's when she starts looking for AI solutions. She also said it's important to build in additional time at first when establishing an AI workflow. "Expect it to take longer at first as you figure out the right prompts or the right tool or even create the mechanism," Dhir said. From reactive response to proactive planning Traditionally, procurement has focused on risk and reactive planning when it comes to supplier relationships, but that is shifting, Gundersen said. "We have definitely transitioned to figuring out how to be more proactive, what tools and capabilities there are— whether it's from AI and/or other ongoing monitoring tools," Gunderson said. "So definitely being able to build that into the supply chain management, risk management function is important. I think that's where everybody is moving and trending." A big part of that transition is due to the data that is available to collect and analyze, SMBC's Glickenhaus said. Glickenhaus cited recent earthquakes and tsunamis as an example of how things have shifted. In the past, they would need hours to analyze data and react to how it might affect the supply chain. But with the systems and data available now, that time is significantly reduced and they can be more proactive about solutions. "It's helping procurement to have a better positioning in companies as a gatherer of data and then being able to analyze this data and provide this analysis to senior leaders so that they can make the right decisions," she said. That access to data and its analysis is ultimately what proves procurement's value to the rest of the organization. "What I'm most excited about is this interconnection between procurement and data utilization," Dhir said. "It's a combination of actively partnering and supporting our clients and our customers, leveraging all the different solutions that we can provide."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
JPMorgan drops 3-word verdict on Amazon stock post-earnings
JPMorgan drops 3-word verdict on Amazon stock post-earnings originally appeared on TheStreet. Amazon () posted a superb Q2 on paper, but the market was mostly unfazed. Shares pulled back sharply, with investors fixating on Amazon Web Services (AWS) relatively lagging in growth. However, in that cloud of concern (no pun intended), JPMorgan sees an opening, not noise. 💵💰💰💵 Veteran Analyst Doug Anmuth's call effectively cuts through the volatility, while putting fresh focus on how Wall Street's top desks are interpreting Amazon's long-term AI and infrastructure story. Amazon's big AI bet tests investor patience Amazon's Q2 results showed a clear contrast in booming top-line expansion, massive investment on one side, and investor unease on the other. Overall sales jumped a superb 13% amounting to $167.7 billion, beating estimates by an eye-popping $5.60 net income surged, with a $1.68 EPS, blowing past estimates by 36 cents. However, all eyes were on AWS sales, which were relatively uninspiring. AWS sales grew 17.5% to $30.9 billion, but remarkably lagged the headline-grabbing growth at competitors. Putting things in perspective, Microsoft Azure posted a 39% jump, while Google Cloud surged 32%, reinforcing fears that AWS may be losing ground in the AI cloud race. Margins told a similar story. AWS operating margin fell sharply to 32.9%, down from 39.5% the prior quarter. Management attributed the squeeze to its aggressive GenAI investments and infrastructure hiccups, particularly with power, chip supply, and server yields. What turned heads, though, was the spending. Amazon's capital expenditures came in at a record $31.4 billion, up close to 90% year-over-year. That's a remarkably high number, especially with management calling it 'reasonably representative' of what's to come in the back half of the year. However, the goal at this point is clear, and it involves scaling AWS's infrastructure quick enough to support AI ambitions and relieve capacity strain. Wall Street wasn't sold, with concerns centering around AWS's slower growth, thinner margins, and unclear near-term return on the hefty capex. Still, CEO Andy Jassy defended the strategy. He emphasized that Amazon is still in the early innings of its powerful multi-year AI journey and that capacity constraints will ease as new infrastructure comes online. JPMorgan's three-word response on Amazon stock: Buy the pullback As previously mentioned, Amazon may have delivered on paper, but the market didn't see it that way. Amazon stock tanked over 8% on Aug. 1, but it clawed back some of those losses pre-market Aug. 4. Still, the initial drop raises some major questions. Nevertheless, one top voice on the Street isn't analyst Doug Anmuth at JPMorgan feels the dip is exactly when investors should move in. He feels investors should 'Buy the pullback,' backing up his Buy rating on Amazon stock, while boosting his price target from $255 to $265, implying a superb upside of 23% from current levels. So what triggered the drop? According to Anmuth, the culprit was AWS. While AWS revenue jumped 17.5% year-over-year to $30.9 billion, it underwhelmed investors who expected more, especially considering the backdrop of AI-fueled cloud expansion. That's not all. Amazon also reported a record $31.4 billion in capex, which only made matters worse in compounding the pressure on AWS to deliver even bigger growth numbers. Still, the Street isn't backing off. Analysts at Citi also bumped their price target on the stock to $270, noting Amazon's higher spending reflects healthy demand and efforts to fix infrastructure constraints in the cloud. However, it's important to consider that growth lagged peers, and management didn't exactly calm concerns around the AI opportunity. Despite that, the Wall Street punditry believes the selloff doesn't match the broader story. And for JPMorgan, this is the kind of dip worth loading up on. AWS: Amazon's profit engine and AI powerhouse AWS is far from purely a segment; it's arguably the profit core and strategic anchor for the entire business. It's responsible for close to 60% of Amazon's operating income, with AWS running at an annualized sales pace above $123 billion. That scale gives it the profile of a standalone cloud giant, one that underpins the bulk of Amazon's enterprise Andy Jassy has reiterated AWS's incredible competitive moat, noting it's still 'meaningfully larger' than its next-closest rival. Recent data supports that lead. Per the most recent reports, AWS commands roughly 31% to 32% of the global cloud infrastructure market, followed closely by Microsoft Azure with roughly 22.5% to 24%, and Google Cloud at 10% to 12%. Other estimates tend to vary based on methodology, but generally confirm AWS's position at the top, with competitors trailing by a hefty margin. AI is rapidly deepening that role. AWS is investing a ton of money in generative and agentic AI, in serving external clients through the Generative AI Innovation Center. Another key differentiator for AWS is that it effectively originates from Amazon's internal infrastructure needs before commercialization. It comes with embedded efficiency and noteworthy cash-flow sustainability, making it more than a cost center, powering internal tools like Amazon Personalize. That synergy creates a robust loop where AI sharpens retail engagement and fuels more demand for compute. More News: Amazon's quiet pricing twist on tariffs stuns shoppersBank of America flags 3 breakout stocks to watch ahead of earnings Margins may have compressed recently on the back of AWS building its custom infrastructure, including Trainium chips, but those bets are about long-term dominance. JPMorgan drops 3-word verdict on Amazon stock post-earnings first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 4, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 4, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
