US Job-Loss Anxiety Hits 13-Year High as AI Cuts 140,000 Tech Jobs

Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $575 from $530, sending the software giant's shares higher in premarket trading Wednesday. Analyst Brad Reback said the firm is increasingly comfortable with Microsoft's ability to sustain mid-to-upper-teens revenue growth, citing an LLM-agnostic strategy across Azure and Copilot, COGS and OPEX efficiencies that support stable operating margins, and strong cash flows that should limit the need for outside financing. The Azure outlook is central to the upgrade: Reback expects cloud revenue growth to accelerate despite limited available computing capacity, helped by incremental operating efficiencies, newly added data-center capacity and a growing revenue contribution from the OpenAI relationship. Stifel also pointed to Microsoft 365, where product improvements should lift Copilot adoption and expanding GitHub consumption could support mid-to-upper-teens growth in the productivity business. The thesis would strengthen if Azure growth accelerates alongside stable operating margins, while persistent capacity shortages or weaker Copilot monetization would make the $575 target harder to support.

KeyBanc raised its price target on Meta Platforms to $900 from $780 and reiterated a Buy rating, citing stronger revenue and earnings growth ahead. The roughly 15% increase reflects analyst Justin Patterson's stronger revenue and EPS forecast, with early traction for Meta's Muse AI assistant strengthening confidence in the company's broader product cycle. Patterson now expects Meta's 2027 revenue to rise 23% to $313.8 billion, followed by another 21% increase to $378.7 billion in 2028, forecasts that sit 3% and 4% above Wall Street expectations respectively. He also projects 2027 earnings per share of $35.09, roughly 4% above consensus, and 2028 EPS of $40.50, about 1% above consensus, with the new $900 target based on 22 times expected 2028 earnings. KeyBanc said investor confidence has improved following Meta's August social-addiction trial settlement and September launch of Muse, and Patterson expects more clarity at Meta Connect on September 23 and 24, particularly around developer relationships and monetization plans.