SpaceX Targets Sept. 28 for Starship Flight 14 Orbital Test

Bank of America's US Equity and Quant Strategy team raised its 2026 year-end S&P 500 target to 7,400 from 7,100 and set a 12-month target of 7,800, according to a note dated Sept. 18. The bank is forecasting 33% S&P 500 earnings growth in 2026 and 12% in 2027, and warned that the risk of a sell-off into year-end remains elevated because current multiples imply lower inflation than the US economy is likely to deliver. In its sector calls, the team upgraded S&P 500 Communication Services to marketweight from underweight, closing out a June 2025 downgrade that lasted 15 months; the sector is dominated by Alphabet and Meta, which together make up 78% of the S&P 500 Communication Services weight. BofA now expects cloud revenue at Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Oracle to outpace capex growth in 2027, though it flagged that uncommenced leases and non-cancellable contractual promises at the hyperscalers rose more than 50% between some recent quarters, well ahead of the more modest jump in debt on their books. Long-term earnings expectations for Info Tech now sit at 43%, an all-time high, while Comm Services growth expectations sit at 16%, which is why BofA prefers the hyperscalers over the chip trade at this level.

Dell Technologies said it booked a record $60.9 billion in AI-server orders and generated $16.4 billion in AI-server revenues in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, exiting the period with a $95 billion backlog. The company said more than 6,500 customers are buying its Dell AI Factory offering, with 3,300 added over the past three quarters, spanning Neoclouds, sovereign customers and enterprises. Dell expects fiscal 2027 AI-server revenues of $74 billion, roughly three times the prior-year level, and estimates an addressable opportunity of more than $1 trillion, about half of the data-center demand it expects AI to drive by 2030. Competition is intensifying: Super Micro Computer entered fiscal 2027 with more than $60 billion in new orders and is targeting manufacturing capacity of more than 6,000 racks per month, while Cisco generated $9.3 billion in hyperscaler AI infrastructure orders in fiscal 2026. Dell shares have appreciated 351.2% year to date, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Dell earnings stands at $6.64 per share, up $2.12 over the past 30 days.