JPMorgan strategists are apparently seeing something nobody else is: Companies making money from artificial intelligence and sending the stock market even higher as a result.
**The call: **JPMorgan strategist Dubravko Lakos-Bujas lifted his price target on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) to 8,000 from 7,800 on Monday. He made two points on why he is making the call on the price target hike.
First, Lakos-Bujas said, "With 87% of S&P 500 companies having reported, the earnings picture remains strong and broad-based across multiple sectors."
78% of companies are beating earnings estimates, and 73% are beating revenue estimates. Roughly 61% of companies have had double beats (i.e., beating sales and net income estimates), and only 10% of companies have had both revenue and earnings misses. Since the beginning of earnings season, earnings per share revisions have also increased.
Second, Lakos-Bujas said on AI, "Going into this season, we argued that the key theme would remain centered on hyperscaler capex guidance, with a sharper focus on evidence of monetization and return on invested capital. We have seen signs of this playing out during the second quarter, most clearly across Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, where stronger cloud growth, backlog expansion, and improved operating cash flow visibility cleared a high investor expectation bar."
"Although free cash flow is expected to remain negative in FY27 for most hyperscalers, demand and order coverage are improving relative to capex, as evidenced by rising backlog-to-capex and book-to-bill ratios," Lakos-Bujas added. "This suggests that monetization may start ramping faster than spending, which should support stronger future revenue growth and further alleviate concerns about return on invested capital."
**The bottom line: **It has been a turbulent summer for the stock market. But the bottom line is that stocks are hitting record highs again because the latest earnings season is proving the bears wrong. Earnings are strong, and so have been third quarter outlooks.
"The weight of the evidence continues to support giving the bull market the benefit of the doubt, even as we experience more bumps along the way," Truist chief markets strategist Keith Lerner said.
He's right.
Brian Sozzi* is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor, host of the 'Power Players With Brian Sozzi' podcast and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X** @BrianSozzi**,** Instagram**, and** LinkedIn**. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.*
Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance