Archives April 2025

Something strange is happening in Big Tech.

HR departments are being gutted. Customer support teams are vanishing. Writers, recruiters, analysts — all shown the door.

And just days later?

The same companies unveil shiny new AI tools that “boost productivity,” “streamline operations,” and “enhance customer experience.”

But let’s not kid ourselves.

This isn’t about efficiency. It’s about replacement.

Big Tech is replacing workers with AI.

We are witnessing a silent revolution – the early stages of the AI jobs apocalypse — and while the headlines dance around the truth, the implications are massive.

Massive for workers. Massive for the economy. And absolutely massive for investors.

Let’s dive into what’s really happening.

Step One: Fire People

Over the past several months, the world’s most powerful companies have executed a coordinated campaign of layoffs across tech, media, finance, and more.

Let’s take a look:

• Meta (META) just announced another round of performance-based layoffs, trimming middle managers and software engineers. This follows earlier cuts in recruiting, communications, and business operations.
• Google (GOOG) slashed hundreds of jobs in ad sales and support, including “redundant” customer service and account manager roles. They’ve also made cuts to their HR and cloud units.
• Amazon (AMZN) cut jobs in Alexa, HR, and devices, saying it’s “refocusing resources” toward AI development.
• Microsoft (MSFT) laid off staff at LinkedIn, GitHub, and Azure, especially in operations and sales enablement.
• International Business Machines (IBM) quietly started trimming thousands of back-office roles, especially in HR — after CEO Arvind Krishna said 30% of non-customer-facing roles will be replaced by AI over the next five years.

And it’s not just tech.

• BuzzFeed, Business Insider, and Gannett have all slashed editorial staff while openly testing AI-generated articles.
• Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are piloting AI tools for internal compliance, documentation, and research — replacing interns and first-year analysts before they even apply.

You might notice a theme: support staff, engineers, writers, HR teams, marketers, junior analysts — all disappearing.

Step Two: Replace Them With AI (Quietly)

Now, here’s where things get really interesting.

All of those layoffs happened within weeks — or even days — of major AI announcements from the same companies.

• Just weeks after cutting hundreds of support staff, Google expanded Gemini for Workspace, offering AI-powered writing, spreadsheet analysis, and customer service automation.
• After trimming its Alexa division, Amazon launched Rufus, its new AI shopping assistant, and said internal teams are now using generative AI to write product descriptions and code.
• As Meta announced its newest layoffs, Mark Zuckerberg said 2025 will be the year Meta builds AI agents as skilled as mid-level engineers — and began integrating LLaMA-based agents across internal coding, QA, and productivity teams.
• Microsoft laid off LinkedIn and GitHub staff while expanding its Copilot integrations across Office, Azure, and GitHub — including tools that write and review code automatically.

They’re not calling it “replacing humans with AI.” That’s a headline nightmare.

But they are doing exactly that.

Lay off humans. Roll out AI. Watch the profit margins widen.

The Big Tech Dominoes Are Already Falling

This is bigger than a few reorganizations.

What we’re witnessing is the beginning of an epochal labor shift — one that’s already being priced into the market.

Companies are being rewarded for cutting humans and replacing them with cheaper AI tools.

Just look at Meta, Amazon, and Google:

• Meta’s operating profit margin increased from 23% in early 2023 to 42% today.
• Google’s margin rose from 25% to 32%.
• Amazon’s margin jumped from 2% to more than 10%.

These companies’ profit margins are exploding — and so are their stock prices.

Since early 2023:

• Amazon stock has more than doubled.
• Google stock is up more than 150%.
• Meta stock has risen about 300%.

Wall Street is sending a clear message: “Replacing workers with AI? Great — we’ll reward you.”

That incentive is too powerful to ignore. Other companies will follow. The movement is already underway.

This Is the AI Jobs Apocalypse

Let’s call a spade a spade: this is the AI jobs apocalypse.

The world’s most powerful companies are building tools that automate white-collar labor — from entry-level coders to content writers to customer service teams.

And they’re already using those tools to quietly replace their own people.

Sure, they might not be saying it. But look at the data. It’s happening. Right now.

And while that raises big questions for the labor market, it creates even bigger opportunities for investors.

The Bottom Line

The AI jobs apocalypse is here. The headlines are soft-pedaling it, but the charts, transcripts, and job boards tell the real story.

• Jobs are disappearing.
• AI tools are replacing them.
• Stock prices are rising.

This is not just a technological shift — it’s an economic supercycle.

And like every disruptive shift before it — from steam to electricity to the internet — it will create enormous wealth for those positioned correctly.

So don’t fear the AI revolution. Invest in it.

Looking for the best stocks to buy for the AI jobs apocalypse?

Consider AI 2.0 stocks — not just the old, obvious names. We believe these next-wave companies could be the tip of the spear in the AI labor revolution.

Click here to learn more.

_{On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.}

Questions or comments about this issue? Drop us a line at [email protected].

Tariffs are the talk of the boardroom. 

With the first-quarter earnings season in full swing, executives have been busy explaining how they’re handling new import taxes. Several businesses plan to recoup costs through price increases, though some worry they’ll lose customers if they charge more. Some companies detailed plans to shift production, while others said they’re waiting for more clarity on US trade policy.  

“We have factories in … basically in every region of the world. But we don’t want to take any measures that’s on something that might be temporary,” Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of the beauty company L’Oreal, said last week, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense. “So we are watching carefully what’s happening and trying to figure out what will be [the] end game.”

Companies Poised to Raise Prices

Price increases are likely at a number of companies, from Procter & Gamble (PG), which makes household goods like Tide, Charmin and Dawn, to Hermès, the France-based luxury goods giant.

American customers will pay more for Hermès’ goods beginning next month, CNBC reported, adding that the price hikes are being used to offset tariffs, and therefore, won’t be occurring in other markets.

Hasbro (HAS) CEO Chris Cocks said price increases were unavoidable, but had to be done carefully. About half of Hasbro’s games and toys originate in China, which means tariffs may reduce its profit by $60 million to $180 million this year, executives said this week.

“We definitely think $9.99 and $19.99 [price points] are important,” Cocks said.

Raising prices is risky, some companies said. Michael Hsu, CEO of Kimberly-Clark (KMB), the parent company of Huggies, Kleenex and Scott toilet paper, said some competitors source locally, so charging more may make Kimberly-Clark less competitive. Kimberly-Clark will seek to mitigate a $300 million annual hit from tariffs primarily through supply chain shifts, Hsu said this week.

“We’re trying to be disciplined on price,” Hsu said. He told analysts consumers were wary because they’re “maybe two years removed from what I would call an inflation super cycle.”

Firms Deliberate Over Manufacturing Moves

Some businesses have moves in mind. Hyundai plans to shift production of the Tucson, a compact SUV, executives said this week. US-bound vehicles now made in Mexico could be constructed in Alabama, while the Mexican plant turns out cars for the Canadian market, they said.

Lakeland Industries (LAKE), a protective apparel manufacturer, outlined a similar strategy this month for the production of “turnout gear” used by firefighters.

Many companies are waiting to see what trade policies President Donald Trump’s administration settles on. Trump delayed the implementation of deficit-based tariffs until July, saying he would give countries time to negotiate with his team. He has also expressed the desire to reach an agreement with China, which is charging a more than 100% tax on American imports in response to a similarly high duty on its exports to the US.

Flexsteel Industries (FLXS), an Iowa-based furniture company, is gauging how supply chain adjustments would play out depending on how trade policy evolves, CEO Derek Schmidt said this week. (It has also imposed a “modest” surcharge on products imported from Vietnam, which account for 55% of company revenue.)

“We’ve more aggressively started to seek out potential suppliers in other parts of the world,” Schmidt said. “And as soon as we have more clarity, ultimately, on where the trade policy and tariff discussions go, I think we can move fairly quickly to optimize our supply chain.”

Executives See Sales Rising—and Stalling 

Tariffs are already impacting sales, for better and for worse. 

Boeing (BA), a domestic airplane manufacturer, said it was unlikely to send 50 aircraft to Chinese customers as planned this year. Clients won’t accept the planes because they’re now subject to retaliatory tariffs on American goods, CEO Kelly Ortberg said this week. Boeing is assessing ways to market those planes to others, he said.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, but we have many customers who want near-term deliveries, so we plan to redirect the supply,” Ortberg said.

The US appliance company Whirlpool (WHR) told analysts that, in time, tariffs will help it compete with businesses that manufacture in Asia. And demand is already picking up at Kaiser Aluminum (KALU), a Tennessee-based company that makes aluminum products for packages, car companies and other clients.

“We started to see business start to navigate our way, where historically it may have gone to imports and other things,” CEO Keith Harvey said this week.

Historically, April is the second-strongest month of the year, with the S&P 500 gaining 1.7% on average in post-election years since 1950.

Unfortunately, the proverbial “April showers” drenched Wall Street and dampened investors’ moods, so April 2025 did not live up to this historical precedent.

I think it’s safe to say we all know why: Tariffs.

Now, I understand the uncertainty that many investors have felt about the tariffs. But I have been on record saying that the market’s response has been a gross overreaction.

Of course, President Trump is going to do what he does. But I have also said that if you are looking for reassurance, the person to watch during all of this is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Still, I think the negativity the financial media has flooded the airwaves with lately is responsible for much of the uncertainty. The foreign media has been particularly negative, as it is eager to blame the Trump administration for all of the problems in their respective economies which were already struggling.

So, when American investors wake up in the morning and see all of these negative headlines, it’s natural that they would feel gloomy.

However, as the old saying goes, with April showers come May flowers. And I think there will be some very beautiful flowers in the market in May, especially from my Growth Investor stocks. So, in today’s Market 360, I want to talk about a few green shoots that are already emerging in the market.

Green Shoot #1: Thawing Tariff Tensions

As you know, the trade war between China and the U.S. escalated in early April.

China turned up the pressure by banning all rare earth exports to the U.S., which included rare earth magnets. This ban will hinder the electric vehicle (EV), technology, aerospace and defense industries. China also halted deliveries of Boeing Co. (BA) jets, with 10 new 737 Max jets grounded before they could be shipped to three Chinese airlines.

The Trump administration responded in kind, banning NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) from delivering its H20 GPUs to China. The H20 chip was specifically developed for China after the Biden administration placed restrictions on AI chip shipments.

However, this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told attendees at a closed-door investor summit that the tariff standoff with China cannot be sustained by both sides. He noted that the world’s two largest economies will have to find ways to de-escalate tensions – and this de-escalation will come soon.

Well, during a press conference on Tuesday, President Trump noted that the final tariffs on China will be a lot lower than current levels. He even added that if China and the U.S. cannot come to an agreement on tariffs, he may still lower key tariffs. Trump predicted that the final tariff on China would not be “anywhere near” the 145% level, and he added that “we’re going to be very nice” in negotiations.

I should also add that the U.K., the European Union (EU) and about 130 countries are all negotiating new trade agreements with the U.S. – and that should remove most trade barriers.

So, freer trade should be the end result.

Green Shoot #2: Powell’s Job Is Secure… for now

Given that the Federal Reserve has sat on its hands this year, President Trump’s frustration was on display this week – and that ignited fears that Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s job was in jeopardy.

Last week, Powell appeared before the Economic Club of Chicago, where he said that there is a “strong likelihood” that Americans will face higher prices, and the U.S. economy will see higher unemployment due to tariffs. He continued saying that this environment would create a “challenging scenario” for the Fed because any adjustments to interest rates to address inflationary pressures could worsen unemployment and vice versa.

Powell concluded, “It’s a difficult place for a central bank to be, in terms of what to do.”

Clearly, the Fed and Powell remain concerned about inflation. But the reality is consumer and wholesale inflation both declined in March. Also, deflation has actually arrived in the wake of the lowest crude oil prices in four years.

So, the Fed, Powell and even our allies are needlessly worried about inflation.

It’s clear that Powell is not an economist, and that’s why President Trump responded on Truth Social, stating that “Powell’s termination can’t come quickly enough.” You may recall that Powell’s term as Fed Chair will expire in 2026. But there were concerns that President Trump could fire him, and that’s one of the reasons why the stock market was in a tizzy on Monday.

Thankfully, as we discussed in a recent Market 360 article, Trump quelled these fears in a press conference on Tuesday, where he stated that he has “no intention” of firing Powell.

It’s clear that Trump is frustrated that the Fed has not cut key interest rates this year, and he will likely blame the Fed and Powell if there is a recession. But for now, it looks like Powell will finish out his term as Fed Chair.

Green Shoot #3: Earnings Are Working

Now, the biggest green shoot is earnings.

The early quarterly earnings announcements are always the best, and that’s certainly been the case so far. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 71% have exceeded analysts’ earnings estimates, posting an average 6.1% earnings surprise. FactSet now anticipates that the S&P 500 will achieve at least 7.2% average earnings growth for the first quarter.

But what really has me excited is the fact that early results have shown “earnings are working.” In other words, when a company with superior fundamentals beats analysts’ expectations, the stock rallies strongly.

Case in point: In Growth Investor, two of our stocks climbed 4% higher and more than 8% higher in the wake of their quarterly earnings beats on Tuesday. Then on Thursday, one of our stocks rallied 4% higher and another one jumped more than 8% after both companies topped analysts’ expectations.

So, we can count on wave after wave of better-than-expected sales and earnings to continue to propel fundamentally superior stocks higher in the upcoming weeks.

Get Ready for May Flowers

With tariff negotiations proceeding well, and tensions thawing between the U.S. and China, I expect trade barriers to continue to fall. And when it becomes clear that oppressive tariffs will not derail the U.S. economy, I look for the positive earnings environment and falling interest rates to serve as an incredible one-two punch that drives fundamentally superior stocks substantially higher.

The bottom line: Spring has now arrived – and it is time to cheer up, folks!

So, the question is… where do you find the best stocks with superior fundamentals?

That’s where my Growth Investor service comes in. 

The fact is the stocks I recommend in this service remain backed by superior fundamentals. And the proof is in the numbers…

Our Buy List stocks are characterized by 24% average annual sales growth and 81.1% average annual earnings growth. That compares to the S&P 500, which is expected to achieve an estimated 4.6% revenue growth and a 7.2% average earnings growth rate for the first quarter.

I should also mention that analysts have increased earnings estimates by an average of 3.8% in the past three months. So, the analyst community remains very positive on these stocks.

To learn more about Growth Investor and gain immediate access to my latest picks, go here now.

(Already a Growth Investor subscriber? Click here to log in to the members-only website.)

Sincerely,

Louis Navellier

Editor, Market 360

The Editor hereby discloses that as of the date of this email, the Editor, directly or indirectly, owns the following securities that are the subject of the commentary, analysis, opinions, advice, or recommendations in, or which are otherwise mentioned in, the essay set forth below:

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)

President Donald Trump’s tariffs have been slow to affect hard economic data, but that could change Wednesday when the import taxes could blow a hole in the Gross Domestic Product figures.

Wednesday’s scheduled GDP report is likely to show that the key measure of the country’s economic output rose at an annual rate of just 0.4% in the first quarter, according to the median forecast from a survey of economists conducted by the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. That would be down from 2.4% in the last quarter of 2024 and the slowest growth since 2022.

Economists said the sharp slowdown in growth will likely reflect the impact of a surge of imports: People raced to buy things from overseas before President Donald Trump’s tariffs took effect, and imports subtract from the GDP.

Some forecasters think the drop will be even more drastic than the consensus and expect the economy to shrink for the first time since 2022. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDP Now tool, which calculates the GDP based on economic data as it is published, showed the GDP shrinking at a 2.5% annual rate in the first quarter.

The GDP report would be one of the first “hard data” indicators to show the impact of Trump’s slew of tariffs against U.S. trading partners, which began in February and reached a fever pitch in April. Surveys have shown businesses and individuals growing pessimistic about the economy due to the tariffs, but key economic indicators, including unemployment and inflation, have stayed resilient thus far.

Get your popcorn ready: Khloé Kardashian’s latest venture just dropped.

Kardashian, who has made millions as an entrepreneur and reality star, recently launched Khloud, a protein popcorn brand. It’s made from corn from Nebraska and has 7 grams of protein per serving, according to the brand’s website. Khloud, set to launch in Target and on its website on April 29, lists tennis legend Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures and talent agency WME among its investors, according to TechCrunch.

“This is just the very start of what I hope Khloud will be,” Kardashian told People.

Kardashian has an estimated net worth of $65 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Kardashian has built her empire over the years along with her family, with a hit reality TV show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and businesses including a clothing line and brand partnerships.

Here’s how Khloé Kardashian made her millions.

Khloé’s ‘Keeping Up’ Salary

Kardashian rose to fame along with her sisters Kim, Kourtney, Kylie and Kendall Jenner and their mother Kris Jenner, with which she appeared on Keeping Up. The 40-year-old star is the youngest of the Kardashian sisters, Kim and Kourtney, but older than Kylie and Kendall Jenner.

The realy show aired on E! for 20 seasons; according to TMZ, the Kardashians signed a $150 million deal with the network for the last five seasons. In an interview, Kris Jenner told Ellen Degeneres that the money from the show is split evenly among the family.

Khloé earned about $4.5 million per season when the show was on E!, and was also an executive producer on the show.

In 2021, the family started another reality TV show on Hulu, The Kardashians.  The deal paid the Kardashian-Jenners a nine-figure salary that they split evenly, according to Variety. Khloé is an executive producer on the show as well.

The star recently announced she was launching a Kardashians spin-off reality series called “Calabasas Behind the Gates” which will focus on the famous family’s friends and neighbors.

Good American

Kardashian co-founded clothing brand Good American in 2016 along with British businesswoman and entrepreneur Emma Grede, who has co-founded several other Kardashian companies including Kim’s shapewear line Skims and Kris’s cleaning supplies brand, Safely.

A brand that focuses on size inclusivity, Good American drove $200 million in sales in 2022, according to Entrepreneur. The brand has a flagship store in Los Angeles and is sold through the company’s website and at retailers such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s Saks Fifth Avenue, and Macy’s.

Partnerships and Social Media

Kardashian also makes millions on social media. Kardashian earns an estimated $1.8 million per sponsored post on Instagram, according to an estimate by social media marketing company Hopper’s 2024 Instagram Rich List.

Kardashian has partnered with brands such as Fabletics, Kylie Cosmetics, KKW Fragrance, and more. Kardashian launched her own signature fragrance, XO Khloé, in December 2024, in partnership with Luxe Brands.

Meta Platforms (META) is set to report first-quarter results after markets close on Wednesday, and analysts have remained bullish on the Facebook parent amid tariff uncertainty and legal disputes.

Of the 27 analysts covering the stock tracked by Visible Alpha, 25 call Meta a “buy,” while just two have a “hold” rating. The stock has an average price target near $695, a roughly 27% premium to Friday’s closing level of about $547.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is expected to report earnings per shareof $5.24 on revenue of $41.35 billion, which would represent 11% and 13% growth, respectively, from a year ago.

Morgan Stanley analysts wrote recently that Meta could be hurt by a tariff-fueled pullback in advertising from Chinese companies, but said the firm should be better positioned to withstand that than Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google or Amazon (AMZN).

Regulatory, Legal Concerns Dominate Recent Headlines

Legal and regulatory disputes have nagged Meta, with the European Union this week fining the tech giant 200 million euros ($227.5 million) for violating its Digital Markets Act. Meta said it plans to appeal the fine.

Also this month, Meta’s antitrust trial began. The Federal Trade Commission is looking to make the company sell or spin off Instagram or WhatsApp, and the agency has said that Meta engaged in an “illegal buy-or-bury scheme to maintain its dominance” by acquiring the “innovative competitors.”

Meta shares are down about 7% in 2025, having lost a quarter of their value since hitting an all-time high of more than $740 in February amid historic market turmoil that has hit the Magnificent Seven companies hard.

Shares of Intel (INTC) finished the week on a down note after its latest financial outlook disappointed investors. The stock’s next catalyst might be just a few days away. 

Lip-Bu Tan, who presided over the chip company’s quarterly results Thursday for the first time as CEO, will on Tuesday give the keynote address at an event associated with Intel’s Foundry business, which makes chips for other companies. Bank of America analysts in a Friday note said the event could be paired with the announcement of partnerships with other big tech firms. 

Intel has sought to grow the Foundry business; early last year, it spoke of ambitions to be the world’s second-largest foundry behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) by 2030. Its 2024 foundry revenue, however, fell from a year earlier—it came in north of $17 billion, roughly 30% of the company’s total—and its operating loss widened. 

This year reports have suggested that Intel might look to sell a stake in the Foundry operation to TSMC; that company, however, has denied talks. Investors were tracking the possibility that a spinoff or sale of Foundry might be in the works well before Tan took over. 

Investors continue to look for signs of dealmaking. Optimism about a range of possibilities, ranging all the way up to a sale of the entire company, has moved the shares in recent months. 

That could still be the case. But Tan has said cost-cutting is also a priority: On Thursday, while not formally announcing layoff plans reported earlier in the week, he made clear they are coming. 

Bank of America analysts, who have a neutral rating for Intel’s stock and a $23 price target that is a few cents above the Street consensus compiled by Visible Alpha, said Intel is “too big to turn around quickly, but optionality [is] still there.”

The stock has lost over a third of its value in the past year through Friday’s close.

Charter Communications (CHTR) stock soared 11% to lead S&P 500 gainers Friday after the company added more mobile phone lines and lost fewer video customers than analysts had expected in the first quarter.

The owner of Spectrum cable, internet, and phone services generated $13.74 billion in revenue, up slightly year-over-year and above the $13.68 billion Visible Alpha forecast. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $8.42, up nearly 12% from the year-ago quarter but still 7 cents shy of estimates.

Charter added 514,000 mobile phone lines in the quarter, better than the roughly 477,000 that analysts were expecting. The company lost 60,000 internet subscribers, more than expected, but about 9,000 of those losses were due to the January wildfires in California.

‘Simplified Pricing’ Cited for Lower-Than-Expected Video Subscriber Loss

The company also lost fewer video subscribers than estimated at 181,000, much improved from the 405,000-subscriber decline a year ago. Charter said its narrowing loss was “driven by new and simplified pricing and packaging,” like its bundle that gives cable subscribers access to the ad-supported tier of a number of streaming services.

With today’s surge, Charter shares moved into positive territory for 2025.

Tariffs are expected to raise the cost of living, but Wednesday’s report on inflation and spending will likely show little evidence of that. 

The Bureau of Economic Analysis is expected to release the Personal Consumption Expenditures report on Wednesday. It will likely show that the cost of living stayed flat in March after rising 0.3% in February, according to the Bloomberg consensus forecast reported by Wells Fargo Securities. That would make for a 2.2% increase over the past 12 months, the lowest annual inflation rate since September.

The inflation slowdown is expected to echo a similar trend in the Consumer Price Index data released earlier this month. In that inflation measure, a drop in gas prices dragged down overall inflation.

Inflation Could Still Be Ahead

However, the inflation reprieve is likely to be short-lived.

Economists predict tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump in April could push up consumer prices, as merchants pass on the cost of the import taxes to consumers. Economists at RBC expect the inflation surge to show up in the data for May, which will be reported in June.

If Wednesday’s report matches expectations, it would highlight the good shape the economy was in before Trump’s trade wars shook things up. Not only was overall inflation slowing, but economists expect “core” inflation, which excludes volatile prices for food and energy, to have risen only 0.1% over the month.

That’s down from 0.4% in February, making for a 2.6% increase over the year. It would be the lowest annual core inflation since March 2021. marking a milestone in the Federal Reserve’s efforts to push it down to 2%.

The Fed bases its 2% inflation target on Core PCE inflation since food and energy prices can fluctuate for reasons that have little to do with lasting inflation trends. Cooling core inflation would typically be a promising sign for Federal Reserve officials and encourage central bankers to lower their benchmark interest rate.

However, Fed officials expect tariffs to push up costs and have hesitated to make any moves while waiting to see how Trump’s trade wars will unfold.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) climbed Friday, leading shares of several other adtech and AI stocks higher, after showing signs of success with AI features.

Alphabet’s Class A shares jumped over 4% to just above $166, before paring gains in recent trading. Shares of several other tech companies in digital advertising that use AI tools also gained, including Meta Platforms (META), Pinterest (PINS), Snap (SNAP), and AppLovin (APP). (Read Investopedia’s live coverage of today’s market action here.)

The Google parent reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings Thursday, with CEO Sundar Pichai telling investors Google Search growth was driven by “engagement we’re seeing with features like AI Overviews, which now has 1.5 billion users per month” in just under a year since its launch. 

Several analysts, including those at Citi and Wedbush, boosted their price targets for the stock in the wake of the results, pointing to its AI potential. Bank of America analysts, who also raised their price target, said they believe Wall Street “may be underappreciating” opportunities tied to search features like AI Overviews and AI-driven cloud demand.

That trend could suggest more growth for other companies with cloud and digital ad businesses, with several set to report earnings in the coming weeks. Snap is scheduled to report next Tuesday, with Meta and cloud giant Microsoft set to follow Wednesday, and Amazon on Thursday. AppLovin is scheduled to release results the following Wednesday, May 7m with Pinterest’s report due a day later.