For much of Thursday, it looked as if a trio of drug stocks— Amgen , Eli Lilly , and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals —would edge out tech companies to lead August’s gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 50 0, and the Nasdaq 100. But when the regular session closed for the final session of the month, tech companies held all three top positions.Leading the Dow. Cisco Systems , a big provider of networking equipment was the strongest performer in the Dow with an August gain of 10.
CFO Scott Herren said in an interview with Barron’s that AI-related business will meaningfully show up in the company’s financial results by the end of fiscal 2024. “There are encouraging signs in AI,” Herren said at the time. “We see a multi-year opportunity ahead, and we are well positioned to win in that space.”
Arista makes networking hardware for data centers— Microsoft and Meta Platforms are among its biggest customers—so it stands to benefit as companies spend to bulk up in artificial intelligence. The stock had sold off in late July on concern about a potential slowdown in data-center infrastructure demand and signs of moderating spending from Microsoft and Meta.