For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 30, 2026 – Zacks Equity Research shares Bloom Energy BE as the Bull of the Day and KB Home KBH as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR, Lockheed Martin LMT and RTX Corp. RTX.
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Bull of the Day:
Bloom Energy is a clean-energy/fuel-cell provider that designs, manufactures, and installs solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems that generate electricity on-site. The Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company is best known for its energy servers, called "Bloom Boxes." Unlike traditional power plants that burn fuel to create steam and turn a turbine, Bloom's technology generates electricity through a clean chemical reaction. Bloom Energy's technology converts fuels such as natural gas, biogas, and hydrogen into electricity without combustion, delivering high efficiency and lower emissions than traditional generators.
Why Tech Companies Choose Bloom Energy to Power the AI Revolution
The artificial intelligence boom has already become the largest industrial buildout in history, and it is only expected to grow larger.
In fact, AI-related capital expenditure (CAPEX) spending from big tech companies is estimated to grow more than 70% year-over-year, from $390 billion to $674 billion.
AMD Analyst Day Suggests AI Computing Demand Remains High
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is one of the leading GPU providers. In a recent CNBC interview, AMD CEO Lisa Su suggested AI spending is unlikely to slow, saying: "In the past twelve months, all of our customers have said, demand is accelerating because now we are starting to get real productivity out of the AI use cases. We have all the largest hyperscalers in the world saying that they are investing more in CAPEX because they can see the return on the other side of it." When asked about whether the CAPEX spending boom is a gamble, Su replied, "I don't think that it's a big gamble; it's the right gamble."
Meanwhile, NVIDIA (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang sees the AI market like his AMD counterpart, growing in a hockey stick-like fashion. Recently, Huang said that he expects NVIDIA to generate a mind-boggling $1 trillion in cumulative data center revenue through 2027.
AI Model Training is Energy Intensive
Training a large language model (LLM) like OpenAI's "ChatGPT" or Alphabet's"Gemini" requires immense computational power. AI models are trained when thousands of high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) from companies like NVIDIA conduct millions of computations that require unprecedented power. Additionally, as consumer and enterprise demand soars, these AI models require consistent training to remain relevant.
As artificial intelligence becomes an integral part of daily life and soars in popularity, more compute (data centers) is needed. According to the Penn State Institute of Energy and the Environment, data centers consumed 4.45% of U.S. electricity, a number that could triple by 2028. Even before the AI boom, which requires enormous computational resources, the U.S. electric grid was antiquated and overwhelmed. However, by 2030-2035, the strain on the power grid will be unsustainable, with data centers expected to account for 20% of global electricity use.
An example of just how overwhelmed the electrical grid is occurred a few years ago when the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (EROC) was forced to pay Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms$30 million to limit its electricity usage during a heat wave.
Why On-Site Power is Necessary for Data Center Owners
AI training workloads are massive, non-stop, and require extreme power density that the aging U.S. electrical grid was never designed to handle. Below are four reasons AI hyperscalers will be forced to adopt on-site power for their data centers, including:
1. Delayed Time-to-Power: As more competition enters the market and tries to get its piece of the AI revolution, America's big tech companies are in a rush to get their data centers up and running. However, in order to secure a high-capacity grid connection, it can take between 5 and 10 years.
2. Trump Administration Influence & Incentive: Early last month, the Trump Administration announced a voluntary "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" with major technology companies to ensure that expanding AI data centers do not increase electricity prices for ordinary households and businesses. America's prominent AI companies, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, OpenAI, and xAI, have all signed the pledge, promising to build their own power sources for data centers or fund necessary grid infrastructure upgrades. In exchange for the commitments, the administration has worked to cut regulatory red tape and expedite the approval process for power plants to just 2-4 weeks.
3. Power Density and Thermal Requirements: AI chips, such as the latest GPUs and specialized accelerators, consume significantly more power per rack than standard servers. Traditional data centers might run at 10–15 kW per rack, whereas AI-optimized racks are pushing 50–100 kW+. On-site generation allows owners to build high-voltage infrastructure directly adjacent to the server halls, reducing the transmission losses and complexity of stepping down power from a distant utility substation.
4. Reliability: AI training runs can last for weeks or months. A momentary power flicker can crash a training checkpoint, potentially wasting millions of dollars in compute time and electricity. Bloom Energy's technology can provide a constant "baseload" of clean energy that intermittent renewables (solar/wind) cannot match without massive overbuilding.
5. Cost Hedging & Energy Arbitrage: Electricity is the single largest OpEx for an AI data center. Relying solely on the grid exposes owners to volatile spot prices and "demand charges" during peak hours.
· Price Certainty: Owning the generation source—whether through on-site natural gas or long-term nuclear PPA (Power Purchase Agreements)—locks in energy costs.
· Grid Services: During periods of low compute demand, data centers can actually sell excess power back to the grid, turning a utility cost into a potential revenue stream.
Currently, the lack of consistent, clean, and sufficient energy is the biggest roadblock for the AI revolution. AI data centers require immense amounts of energy to run the high-performance computers needed to train AI models.
Oracle Deal is a Major New Bullish Catalyst
On Monday, April 14th, Bloom Energy announced an expanded partnership with Oracle to support up to 2.8GW of fuel cell deployments for AI cloud and infrastructure. This deal, building on a July 2025 agreement, sees Bloom providing fast, reliable, on-site, behind-the-meter power, significantly reducing Oracle's reliance on traditional grid infrastructure and represents the largest direct hyperscaler fuel cell commitment in Bloom's history. Zacks Consensus Estimates already suggest Bloom will deliver triple-digit EPS growth for 2027, but these numbers will likely need to be revised higher in the coming weeks and months.
BE: A Powerful Breakaway Gap Setup
Tuesday night, BE crushed Wall Street expectations, recording revenue of $751M vs Est. $540M and EPS of $0.44 vs Est. $0.13. Wednesday, shares jumped more than 20% as volume swelled to more than double the 50-day norm. This type of powerful price and volume action signals a breakaway gap pattern, suggesting a new, more powerful trend is just beginning. As I mentioned in a recent commentary, the breakaway gap has been the top setup of 2026.
Bloom Energy: A Wall Street Expectation Breaker
Wall Street is a game of expectations. A company that consistently beats Wall Street expectations typically moves higher. From this perspective, Bloom Energy is an extremely bullish example. The company has beaten Zacks Consensus Earnings expectations in three of the past four quarters with an average positive surprise of 111.62%!
Bottom Line
As the artificial intelligence revolution shifts from speculative growth to industrial reality, the primary constraint is no longer just silicon—it is power. With the traditional electrical grid unable to keep pace with the exponential energy demands of hyperscale data centers, Bloom Energy has positioned itself as an essential infrastructure partner.
By providing high-density, reliable, and combustion-free on-site power, Bloom bypasses years of grid-related delays and regulatory hurdles. The massive 2.8GW partnership with Oracle, combined with a technical "breakaway gap" on the charts and a consistent history of crushing earnings estimates, underscores a clear narrative: Bloom Energy is no longer just a clean-energy alternative; it is the mission-critical engine powering the future of computing. For investors, the convergence of favorable federal policy, triple-digit growth projections, and a massive supply-demand imbalance in the energy sector makes BE a compelling play at the heart of the AI buildout.
Bear of the Day:
Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) company KB Home is among the most well-known homebuilders in the United States and one of the largest in California. The Los Angeles-based company generates the lion's share of its revenues from homebuilding. KB Home focuses on building and designing homes that cater to first-time or first move-up purchasers (who represent 72% of sales).
Unlike many large home-builders that rely on "spec" homes (building a house first and finding a buyer later), KB Home uses a built-to-order (BTO) model. Additionally, KB home separates itself from competitors by being one of the leaders in energy-efficient construction, which reduces utility bills for clients. KBH focuses on the Millennial and Gen Z markets and mostly sells homes within the Sun Belt (California, Florida, Arizona, & Texas).
High Interest Rates are a Headwind
KB Home continues to operate in a challenging demand environment, shaped by affordability constraints, elevated interest rates, and macroeconomic uncertainty. With the geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices are likely to remain elevated. As a result, regardless of who is the Fed Chair, the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates any time soon. In fact, betting market PolyMarket expects a 74% that there will be no rate cuts before July.
KBH Earnings are Slowing
During the first quarter of fiscal 2026, KB Home reported home deliveries of $452,100, down 9.7% year over year, driven by pricing adjustments to align with buyer budgets. Forward visibility remains pressured, with backlog down 18.8% year over year to 3,604 homes and backlog value declining 23% to $1.70 billion.
This reflects both earlier demand softness and the impact of faster build cycles, converting backlog into deliveries more quickly. As a result of the challenging housing environment, Zacks Consensus Estimates expect KBH to deliver -50% year-over-year earnings-per-share growth over the next 3 quarters.
KBH Margins are Squeezed
KBH's gross margins are at 5-year lows amid increasing construction costs, wage inflation, and land costs.
Relative Weakness & Technical Damage
Over the past year, KBH shares have sunk 3% while the S&P 500 Index has jumped 32%. The poor price performance is a sign of relative weakness. Additionally, shares are stuck below the key moving averages, signaling a downtrend.
Bottom Line
KB Home is suffering from high interest rates, lower margins, and slowing earnings.
Additional content:
Should Palantir Stock Be in Your Portfolio Before Q1 Earnings?
Palantir Technologies Inc. will report its first-quarter 2026 results on April 4, after the bell.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in the to-be-reported quarter stands at 29 cents, indicating 123.1% growth from the year-ago reported quarter. The consensus estimate for total revenues stands at $1.54 billion, indicating 73.7% year-over-year growth. There have been no changes or revisions to analyst estimates lately.
The company has a strong history of earnings surprises. Earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and matched once, with an earnings surprise of 11.6%, on average.
PLTR's Lesser Chance of Q1 Earnings Beat
Our proven model doesn't conclusively predict an earnings beat for PLTR this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy), or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that's not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they're reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
PLTR has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
PLTR's All-Round Healthy Business Should be the Driver in Q1
We expect a significant year-over-year improvement in the company's top line in the to-be-reported quarter, driven by healthy business from existing and new customers, strengthening both the Government and Commercial segments.
The consensus estimate for Government revenues is pegged at $763.83 million, indicating 56.9% year-over-year growth. The consensus mark for Commercial revenues is pegged at $771.46 million, suggesting 94.4% year-over-year growth.
PLTR Stock Looking Pricey
Palantir shares have surged 19% over the past year but declined 4% over the past three months. This performance is a clear indication of a pullback in the stock lately.
However, the pullback to date has still not brought the stock to a level where it cannot be called pricey. Based on trailing 12-month EV-to-EBITDA, PLTR is currently trading at 247.32X, way above the industry's 10.31X. If we look at the forward 12-month Price/Earnings ratio, the company's shares are currently trading at 93.06X forward earnings, well above the industry's 27.85X.
Investment Considerations
Palantir has shown impressive growth momentum, driven by strong demand across both government and commercial sectors and by consistent profitability improvements. However, the stock's current valuation already reflects much of this optimism, leaving limited room for near-term upside.
While its long-term prospects in artificial intelligence and data analytics remain compelling, short-term investors may prefer to wait for a further pullback before adding positions. Given the combination of strong fundamentals and stretched valuation, a "Hold" stance appears prudent ahead of the first-quarter earnings report, with a focus on monitoring future contract wins and margin trends.
As PLTR's valuation stays high, Lockheed Martin and RTX Corp. offer more grounded defense exposure. Lockheed Martin, with its massive defense contracts, provides steady cash flow and less volatility than PLTR. Its forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio is 16.68X, and trailing 12-month EV-to-EBITDA is below 12.62X. Lockheed Martin continues to benefit from global rearmament while trading at modest earnings multiples.
Similarly, RTX shines through missile systems. RTX's defense backlog, like LMT's, underscores its stability. Its forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio is below 24.87X, and trailing 12-month EV-to-EBITDA is just below 22.64X.
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Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
KB Home (KBH): Free Stock Analysis Report
Bloom Energy Corporation (BE): Free Stock Analysis Report
RTX Corporation (RTX): Free Stock Analysis Report
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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