AI Stock Picks Today: PLTR, AMD, AVGO Trade Ideas for August 5, 2026

Today's AI stock trade ideas: August 5, 2026

The Nasdaq added 2.6 pct on Tuesday, the S&P 500 gained 1.8 pct, and the PHLX Semiconductor Index surged 6.8 pct as a torrent of AI earnings beats sent chip and software stocks sharply higher. Palantir Technologies reported 93 pct revenue growth and raised its full-year outlook; AMD jumped 7 pct after reporting a clean Q2 beat and announcing its Helios AI rack system will ship this quarter to Meta, OpenAI, and Oracle. How to read the scores: Conviction (1-10) measures setup quality; Risk (1-10) measures how easily the trade breaks; 1-week and 1-month columns show rough probability estimates that the idea works in that window. Not all high-conviction trades are low risk.

1. Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR): Long

Palantir delivered what CEO Alex Karp called an "otherworldly" quarter on August 4: revenue surged 93 pct year-over-year to $1.94 billion, beating the $1.8 billion consensus, while U.S. commercial revenue exploded 149 pct and EPS of $0.41 topped the $0.35 estimate by a wide margin, according to CNBC. Management raised full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $8.15 billion. The stock jumped nearly 30 pct in a single session, its largest single-day gain since 2024, per FX Leaders. This is a continuation buy at current levels; the entry zone is $158-163. The trade invalidates on a close below $147, which would signal the earnings gap is beginning to fill. Confirmation comes on a hold above $165 through Wednesday.

2. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD): Long

AMD reported Q2 revenue of $11.5 billion with EPS of $1.66, both above consensus, and guided Q3 to approximately $11.2 billion, representing 46 pct year-over-year growth, per CNBC. CEO Lisa Su said data center sales are on track to double in 2027, and AMD's Helios AI rack system begins shipping this quarter to Meta, OpenAI, and Oracle. AMD is one of the least-extended names in this earnings wave, sitting just 1.3 pct above its 20-day moving average and 0.8 pct above the 50-day, which makes the risk-to-reward cleaner than the other big movers. Entry is $510-522, stop below $487 (the earnings-gap support), target $572.

3. Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO): Long

Broadcom climbed 6.6 pct on Tuesday, initially lifted by Palantir's results and broad AI infrastructure demand, per The Motley Fool. The next major catalyst arrives September 2 with Broadcom's own earnings, creating a textbook pre-event accumulation window. Custom AI chip revenue from hyperscalers has driven a sustained revenue surge in recent quarters, and the setup is clean: 7.8 pct above the 20-day moving average with a healthy uptrend. Buy dips toward $412-420, stop below $390, target $452 ahead of the September 2 report. The trade breaks if AVGO closes below $390.

4. Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM): Long

Arm reported record quarterly revenue of $1.29 billion on July 29, topping the $1.27 billion consensus, while adjusted EPS of $0.45 beat the $0.40 estimate, per Benzinga. Data center royalties more than doubled year-over-year for the second consecutive quarter, driven by the shift to the higher-value Armv9 architecture. JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating and raised its price target, specifically citing the data center royalty trajectory exceeding 100 pct growth for two straight quarters. ARM is 2.8 pct above its 20-day MA but still 13.4 pct below the 50-day, suggesting the recovery trade has room. Stop below $257; target $310 as ARM works back toward prior highs.

5. AMD $530 calls (exp. Aug 21): Options

For traders who want leveraged exposure to the AMD Helios thesis without holding stock overnight, the August 21 $530 calls offer a direct way to express the view. The $530 strike sits approximately $11 out-of-the-money at current prices, based on post-earnings chain pricing in the $28-34 range. Risk is cost-defined: if AMD retreats to $487 or below, these calls will likely lose 55 pct or more of their value, which is the exit signal (approximate option stop around $14). If AMD trades toward the $572 target, these calls would be worth $62 or more. This is a 1- to 2-week hold at most; decay becomes a drag quickly past that window.

More on the radar

MU (Long, conviction 6): Micron jumped 7.6 pct as the memory-cycle recovery accelerates; South Korea's SK Hynix surged 6.9 pct overnight and Samsung gained 4 pct, signaling broad HBM demand from AI clusters, per CNBC. Entry $878-898, stop $838, target $965.

TSLA (Short, conviction 6): Tesla added only 1.6 pct on a day when the Nasdaq surged 2.6 pct, signaling notable relative weakness in one of the highest-beta names in the index. The stock is 7.9 pct below its 20-day moving average and 15.4 pct below the 50-day. Fade bounces toward $335, stop $348, target $295.

NET (Long, conviction 5): Cloudflare is up 21.7 pct over the past month on AI inference and Workers AI adoption, and is testing the $300 resistance level today for the first time in three months. Entry $297-303, stop $278, target $325. Lower conviction: no fresh company-specific catalyst today, riding the AI infrastructure tailwind.

How we score these

Conviction (1-10) reflects the overall quality of the setup: catalyst strength, technical positioning, and how well the reward-to-risk ratio stacks up. A 9 or 10 is rare; most solid setups land at 7-8. A conviction of 5 or below means the idea is speculative or momentum-only.

Risk (1-10) captures what can go wrong: high implied volatility, binary events such as earnings this week, thin liquidity, or counter-trend positioning. A risk score of 7 or higher means size carefully or use defined-risk options instead of stock.

Probabilities are rough estimates of the idea working within the stated time frame, based on momentum, catalyst timeline, and technical setup. They are not statistical guarantees. A 65 pct one-week probability still fails 35 pct of the time. Use stops. Always.

These are short-term trade ideas for informational purposes only, not investment advice. Trading stocks and options carries substantial risk of loss, including the total loss of capital. Probabilities and scores are estimates, not guarantees. Do your own research and size positions to your own risk tolerance.