Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) surged 6.5% and Ouster Inc. (NASDAQ: OUST) climbed 7.9% on Friday, with AMD extending its post-earnings rally on doubled data-center revenue and Ouster pressing its lead in commercial AI-perception on strong Q2 results and a major traffic-management contract win. Broader markets pulled back from record highs: the S&P 500 fell 0.17% to 7,785.76 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.28% to 26,729.16, capping a third consecutive weekly gain. The SOXX semiconductor ETF held nearly flat at 550.42, down just 0.06%.
Top AI stocks today: August 14, 2026
| Ticker | Close | Day | 1mo | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $OUST | $48.71 | +7.93% | +31.51% | +108.43% |
| $AMD | $514.39 | +6.50% | +3.76% | +130.18% |
| $MU | $971.66 | +2.30% | +14.45% | +208.05% |
| $TER | $418.79 | +2.01% | +29.91% | +101.77% |
| $SMCI | $39.84 | +1.74% | +64.76% | +28.68% |
| $MNDY | $87.52 | -7.18% | +11.22% | -38.98% |
| $AVGO | $392.99 | -5.94% | +5.98% | +13.05% |
| $AMAT | $507.18 | -5.12% | -4.24% | +88.63% |
| $NET | $315.78 | -4.55% | +13.73% | +61.10% |
| $CRWD | $216.95 | -3.80% | +6.83% | +91.32% |
AMD rises 6.5% as data-center demand accelerates
Advanced Micro Devices continued its post-earnings ascent on Friday, closing at $514.39 and extending a 130% year-to-date gain that ranks it among the best AI stocks to buy in 2026 by total return. AMD's Q2 2026 results, reported August 4, showed data-center revenue doubling year-over-year to $6.7 billion, representing 58% of the company's $11.54 billion in total revenue - up 50% on an annualised basis. The company guided Q3 revenue to approximately $13 billion, implying 41% year-over-year growth. CEO Lisa Su told CNBC the company expects data-center sales to double again in 2027. Friday's session saw continued buy-side rotation into AMD as the most credible challenger to NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) in the data-center GPU market, keeping it a central name among top AI chip stocks into Q3.
Ouster jumps 7.9% on Q2 beat and Utah traffic-AI contract
Ouster Inc. posted the session's largest percentage gain, closing at $48.71 after Q2 results showed revenue of $55 million, up 56% year-over-year, with net loss narrowing to $18.1 million and Q3 guidance of $54.5M to $57.5M. The catalyst: distribution partner Econolite secured a multimillion-dollar expansion contract with the Utah Department of Transportation to deploy Ouster's BlueCity AI-powered traffic-management system across 160 additional road intersections. The win takes OUST's commercial story firmly beyond autonomous vehicles into civil infrastructure AI, a market that analysts have long argued is larger and more durable. StartupHub.ai data shows 260 autonomous-vehicle companies and 2,124 computer-vision startups in the private market, underscoring the breadth of commercial demand for AI perception technology that Ouster is beginning to capture at scale on the public side. The stock sits 17% above its 20-day moving average and 58% above its 200-day. Readers tracking AI stocks to watch this quarter should note Ouster's Q3 revenue band implies growth deceleration; that print in November will test whether today's multiple holds.
monday.com drops 7.2% as workforce cut overshadows Q2 beat
monday.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: MNDY) was the session's sharpest large-cap decliner, falling 7.2% to $87.52 after the work-management platform announced a 20% workforce reduction while simultaneously issuing Q3 revenue guidance below Wall Street expectations. Q2 revenue of $364.6 million beat estimates - up 22% year-over-year - but investors prioritised the weaker forward guide and, as Benzinga noted, monday.com "flagged short-term disruption from [the] 20% workforce cut." The company did raise its full-year adjusted operating margin outlook to approximately 16%, framing the restructuring as an AI pivot rather than a distress signal. Among the 8,246 enterprise software companies tracked on StartupHub.ai, the pattern of cutting headcount while guiding for higher margins is the defining narrative of the 2026 AI pivot wave; MNDY is now the clearest public-market test case for whether investors will wait for the payoff. The stock is down 39% year-to-date. For context on how enterprise AI SaaS has traded this week, Monday opened the five-day period up modestly before Wednesday's guidance disclosure reversed the move.
Broadcom retreats 5.9% in profit-taking
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) shed 5.9% to $392.99 with no company-specific news driving the move, a classic post-rally giveback after the stock had climbed over 13% year-to-date on expectations of growing custom-ASIC revenue from hyperscaler clients including Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META). Broadcom remains among the highest-conviction AI infrastructure stocks in institutional portfolios, and the pullback may be reentry-level for investors who missed the earlier run.