# Ouster surges 7% on traffic-tech contract win as Datadog slides on profit-taking, SOXX +0.9% _Ouster jumped 7% after Econolite won a major Utah DOT contract deploying BlueCity traffic-sensing technology across 160 new intersections. Semiconductor equipment diverged from a soft broader market, with ASML and Teradyne both adding nearly 4%, while Datadog slid on profit-taking despite a strong Q2 beat._ **Published:** 2026-08-11 **Source:** https://www.startuphub.ai/ai-news/ai-stocks-daily/2026/ai-stocks-2026-08-11 --- **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. What we track This recap analyzes the top 25 publicly-listed AI stocks selected by these criteria: **chips and chip equipment** ($NVDA, $AVGO, $AMD, $ARM, $INTC, $TSM, $ASML, $AMAT, $LRCX, $SMCI, $DELL); **hyperscalers and AI labs** ($MSFT, $GOOGL, $AMZN, $META, $ORCL, $CRM, $NOW); **pure-play AI and data infrastructure** ($PLTR, $SNOW, $MDB, $DDOG); **AI-adjacent security and platform** ($CRWD, $NET, $PANW); plus **$TSLA** for autonomy and **$BIDU** for the China-AI overhang. Macro reference: $SOXX (semis ETF), S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite. End-of-day prices via Yahoo Finance. ## Top AI stocks today: August 11, 2026 | Ticker | Close | Day | 1mo | YTD | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | $OUST | $45.13 | +7.12% | +7.53% | +93.11% | | $MDB | $439.16 | +5.40% | +27.41% | +9.89% | | $TER | $379.56 | +3.96% | +7.45% | +82.87% | | $ASML | $1,799.38 | +3.80% | +1.34% | +54.62% | | $CRWV | $90.32 | +2.42% | +12.98% | +13.87% | | $DDOG | $246.78 | -5.37% | -8.85% | +84.48% | | $GOOGL | $343.80 | -3.84% | -4.37% | +9.09% | | $ORCL | $145.48 | -3.69% | +13.71% | -25.67% | | $DELL | $440.97 | -3.69% | -3.62% | +245.05% | | $BABA | $127.85 | -3.38% | +13.83% | -17.91% | ## 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. --- Original analysis from [startuphub.ai](https://www.startuphub.ai), the #1 AI startup directory.