I have owned, watched and analyzed enough technology stocks to recognize the familiar stages of an artificial intelligence investment story. First comes amazement. Then comes excitement. Next comes a corporate presentation containing the word “AI” so many times that I begin to wonder whether the accounting department has been replaced by a chatbot. Finally, investors ask the only question that matters: Where is the money? Amazon is moving beyond the presentation stage. AWS is not merely experimenting with artificial intelligence or adding a cheerful assistant to an existing product. Amazon is spending extraordinary amounts of money to build the infrastructure, chips, models and software that it believes will power the next generation of computing. The scale is breathtaking. It is also mildly terrifying. Amazon expects to invest approximately $200 billion in capital expenditures during 2026. That is not a typo caused by an analyst falling asleep on the zero key. The company is spending ...
Apple has accomplished something most companies can only fantasize about while their marketing departments rearrange adjectives in a PowerPoint presentation: it has convinced millions of people that purchasing its products is not merely a transaction but an expression of personal identity. People do not simply own an iPhone. They live inside an Apple ecosystem. They do not replace a laptop. They “upgrade their Mac.” They do not buy headphones. They purchase tiny white membership badges that occasionally fall between couch cushions and cost approximately the same as a respectable weekend vacation. That loyalty is why Apple deserves a premium valuation. It is also why investors can become dangerously comfortable paying almost any price for the stock. As of August 21, 2026, Apple shares trade near $311, giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $4.58 trillion. The stock changes hands at approximately 35.7 times trailing earnings, based on earnings per share of about $8.71. Tho...