Ouster surges 7% on traffic-tech contract win as Datadog slides on profit-taking, SOXX +0.9%

Ouster, Inc. (NASDAQ: OUST) surged 7.1% on Tuesday after Econolite announced a multimillion-dollar expansion contract with the Utah Department of Transportation, deploying Ouster BlueCity traffic management systems across 160 additional intersections statewide. The broader market finished lower, with the S&P 500 off 0.3% and the Nasdaq down 0.6% ahead of Wednesday's CPI print, but the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) bucked the trend to close up 0.9% as chip equipment names outperformed across the AI stocks universe.

Top AI stocks today: August 11, 2026

Ouster surges 7% on Econolite traffic-sensing contract win

Ouster, Inc. (NASDAQ: OUST) was the standout among top AI stocks today, closing up 7.1% at $45.13 on volume of 3.4 million shares. The catalyst: Econolite, a mobility operating system vendor and Ouster distribution partner, secured a multimillion-dollar expansion contract with the Utah Department of Transportation to deploy BlueCity AI-powered traffic management across 160 additional intersections, extending a 2025 engagement and bringing UDOT's total Ouster-powered footprint to nearly 300 intersections, per Benzinga. Ouster reported Q2 2026 revenue of $55 million, a 56% year-over-year jump, in its most recent quarterly release. The stock now sits 17% above its 20-day moving average and 58% above its 200-day average. StartupHub.ai data shows that among the lidar and autonomous-perception companies we track, Ouster and Mobileye are among the few publicly traded pure-plays in AI-enabled traffic sensing: most private-market competitors remain pre-revenue at scale, making each infrastructure contract win a meaningful proof point for the category.

MongoDB rebounds 5% as database-to-AI demand narrative regains ground

MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) added 5.4% to close at $439.16, extending a five-session rally of nearly 17% that reflects renewed conviction in the company's Atlas vector-search platform as a foundation for enterprise AI inference workloads. Forty analysts tracked across major banks carry an average Buy rating with a consensus price target of $396, and the stock now trades above that figure after the recent run. The acceleration in demand for AI-native databases, particularly for retrieval-augmented generation pipelines, has reset MDB's growth narrative. Among best AI stocks in August 2026, MongoDB is emerging as a key pick for the data-infrastructure layer of the AI stack.

Datadog slides 5% on profit-taking after Q2 beat

Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG) fell 5.4% to $246.78 on above-average volume of 8.7 million shares, a sell-the-news reaction following a strong Q2 report disclosed earlier in the week. The company posted second-quarter revenue growth of 36% year-over-year, beating consensus on both the top and bottom line, with free cash flow strength tied to AI observability workloads. Needham analyst Jack Andrews responded by raising his price target to $300 from $260 while maintaining a Buy rating. Short-term traders who held through the print took profits regardless. Datadog is one of the best AI infrastructure stocks for cloud-native observability exposure, but today's tape suggests the near-term bar is high after the run into earnings. StartupHub.ai data shows the company has no direct public-market peer in AI observability: private competitors Grafana Labs and LangSmith score 80 and 75 respectively on our platform and both remain pre-IPO.

Chip equipment surges: ASML and Teradyne lead the semis complex

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML) climbed 3.8% to $1,799.38, adding to its year-to-date gain of 54.6% as demand for extreme ultraviolet lithography tools continues to outpace prior guidance tied to AI semiconductor capacity investments. Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ: TER) gained 4.0% to $379.56, up 82.9% year-to-date, with test-equipment orders from AI accelerator programs the primary tailwind. Both names rank among the top AI chip stocks to watch heading into Thursday, when Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) reports fiscal Q3 results after the close. Analysts project AMAT earnings per share of $3.39, up 36.7% year-over-year, on revenue of $9.01 billion: the print will be the clearest read yet on whether the AI chip equipment cycle has legs into year-end.

Notable but quieter

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) fell 3.8% to $343.80, dragging the Magnificent 7 AI stocks complex lower alongside antitrust headline risk and broad profit-taking ahead of Wednesday's inflation data. Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) and Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) each dropped 3.7%: Oracle retraced part of its one-month 13.7% run on AI infrastructure orders, and Dell gave back ground after its extraordinary year-to-date gain of 245%. Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) slid 3.4% and Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) fell 3.3% as China AI stocks remained under pressure from macro and regulatory headwinds. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) pulled back 2.1%, retreating with the broader tech complex ahead of the macro data.

What are the top AI stocks to buy in August 2026?

Across hardware, hyperscale cloud, and enterprise SaaS, the consensus top AI stocks in August 2026 include NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO), and ASML Holding N.V. for chip infrastructure; Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) for hyperscale AI and enterprise copilots; and ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE: NOW) for enterprise AI software and workflow automation. Wall Street's 2026 focus has shifted from training-cluster buildout to inference compute, AI-agent monetization, and real-world deployment contracts, reshuffling which top 2026 AI stocks lead each session.

Core watchlist

Chips

Nvidia (NVDA): -0.02% on moderate volume. Holding $217 through a multi-week consolidation; inference-compute demand is the thesis. Next catalyst: August 27 earnings print.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): +1.01% on light volume. Modest recovery following last month's China-exposure selloff; MI300X server-GPU demand commentary at upcoming conferences is the next directional signal.

Broadcom (AVGO): -1.50% on average volume. Slight pullback after a 6.9% one-month run; custom AI ASIC chip order pipeline is the long-term driver.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM): +0.86% on average volume. Quietly building a base near $422; N2 node ramp on track per recent industry checks.

Hyperscalers

Microsoft (MSFT): -0.44% on above-average volume. Drifting into the CPI print; Copilot seat-addition data is the Q1 FY27 watch metric.

Meta Platforms (META): +0.71% on light volume. Holding above $595; AI ad-targeting efficiency the multi-quarter narrative; next catalyst is the Q3 print in late October.

Enterprise SaaS

Salesforce (CRM): -0.02% on average volume. Essentially flat; Agentforce attach-rate progress is the Q3 watch item.

ServiceNow (NOW): +0.08% on heavy volume. Unusual turnover on minimal price movement; worth monitoring for any after-hours catalyst.

monday.com (MNDY): -1.30% on light volume. mondayAI suite under pressure alongside broader enterprise software weakness; Q3 print in October is the next catalyst.

Vol / retail

Palantir (PLTR): -0.17% on below-average volume. Consolidating a one-month gain of 30.8%; government-AI contract pipeline is the running thesis.

Tesla (TSLA): +0.58% on light volume. Modest bounce; Robotaxi launch timeline and FSD v13 are the autonomy narrative.

Snowflake (SNOW): -0.17% on light volume. Holding above $330 after a one-month surge of 21%; Cortex AI agent suite is the demand driver.

What to watch tomorrow

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) reports fiscal Q4 earnings Wednesday after the close, with consensus at EPS of $1.17, up 18.2% year-over-year, on revenue of $16.83 billion. The report will serve as a read on enterprise AI networking demand: a key variable for the AI infrastructure stocks thesis. Thursday brings Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) fiscal Q3 results, the most direct read on chip equipment demand in the AI cycle since ASML's last update. Analysts project AMAT EPS of $3.39 on $9.01 billion in revenue. Wednesday morning's CPI data will set the risk-on or risk-off macro tone for all AI stocks to watch through the rest of the week.

Not investment advice.