2026 marks the start of the "Autonomous AI" era! Bank of America predicts that Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) and four other stocks will lead the way.

In the context of the continued popularity of AI trading, Wall Street has begun to explore the next batch of "winners." Bank of America believes that the next stage of AI trading will depend on autonomous intelligent agents, with five stocks including Amazon potentially leading this trend. Despite many remarks about the overhype of the AI industry, Bank of America believes that the "overheated market phase" has not yet arrived. The bank pointed out in its latest report that in the past two years, the AI field has been centered around chatbots and large language models, and 2026 will be the "first year of autonomous AI," where software capable of autonomously performing tasks will dominate. According to Bank of America analyst Justin Post, the prosperity of the AI industry will peak only after the most noteworthy AI unicorns (AI startups valued at over $10 billion) go public. These companies include OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, among others, and speculations suggest that they may go public in 2026. Prior to this, investment opportunities lie in companies that can utilize agent systems with shopping, travel booking, and other operational functions. Bank of America's top picks include Amazon, AppLovin, Wayfair, Expedia Group, and Roblox, believing that they are the biggest beneficiaries of the AI agent technology revolution. Amazon Stands Out Among large tech stocks, Amazon is Bank of America's top pick for the first quarter of 2026, with a focus on the company's potential advantages. Post is optimistic about the continued accelerated growth of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the efficiency improvements in the retail business. Wall Street forecasts show that AWS's annual growth rate will reach 21%. However, Post believes that with Amazon having more cloud service capabilities and better infrastructure in 2026, this number could be surpassed. Meanwhile, Amazon has made progress in its custom AI chip Trainium, with its latest Trainium3 product improving efficiency and computing power. Post stated that future versions of this chip will integrate with Nvidia's technology, potentially making AWS the lowest-cost provider for AI workloads. In the retail business, Amazon is driving profit margin growth through the growth of its advertising business, more efficient inventory management, the application of Siasun Robot&Automation technology, and reducing the number of employees. Post wrote that with over 1 million Siasun Robot&Automation units and more efficient logistics centers, Amazon's retail profit margin is expected to increase from 6.1% in 2025 to 8.3% in 2027. Post emphasized that Amazon's retail and cloud businesses make the company capable of becoming the default infrastructure for enterprise e-commerce. He also noted that due to its Prime service, Amazon's share of the US e-commerce market exceeds 40%. He also added that Amazon's AI shopping assistant, Rufus, currently provides shopping recommendations and price tracking services, with the potential for future upgrades to provide "comprehensive automation capabilities." He mentioned that in 2026, Amazon and OpenAI may reach an automation shopping agreement, which Post believes is likely to include revenue sharing terms. Other Potential Winners Regarding other companies, Post pointed out that Wayfair has made significant progress in the furniture shopping sector, becoming an early partner of Google's "smart checkout" feature. The company has also developed an autonomous AI assistant to handle common queries. Additionally, the travel industry will be a "key battlefield" for intelligent agent AI in 2026, as it involves multi-step planning and all participants are striving for automation. Post wrote that Expedia Group is successfully transitioning from traditional booking websites to a new infrastructure provider for AI travel agents. AppLovin's position in the mobile gaming industry and its expansion into e-commerce will protect it from the headwinds in these industries. Post noted that advertising in mobile games is highly effective in persuading consumers. AppLovin's Axon product uses AI to precisely target ads to potential buyers and is widely adopted by online merchants. Lastly, Roblox is also developing an advertising plan, although in early stages, with its large and highly active user base of about 150 million daily active users, the plan is expected to make Roblox a "significant advertising destination." Besides advertising, Roblox's Studio Assistant and other intelligent AI tools can significantly increase the speed at which developers release new games, making it a key growth driver. This article is reproduced from "Cailianshe", author: Huang Junzhi; GMTEight editor: Feng Qiuyi.