Key Highlights

● Taboola raised its full-year 2026 outlook after second-quarter Revenue of $476.8 million and adjusted EBITDA up 22.8% to $55.5 million, powered by its agentic Realize+ Advertising platform.

● Opera's second-quarter revenue rose 25% year over year to $178.1 million, beating its own guidance range, with Net Income of $27.6 million and adjusted EBITDA up 32% to $42.4 million.

● ACI Worldwide grew second-quarter revenue 7% to $430 million and raised full-year guidance to $1.925 billion in revenue, with adjusted diluted EPS up 54% to $0.54.

● Crexendo's second-quarter total revenue jumped 49% year over year to $24.6 million, and HealthStream posted a record $83.7 million in quarterly revenue, up 12.5%, while paying a quarterly dividend.

Five very different Nasdaq-listed software and technology-services companies just closed a second quarter that shows how AI is now filtering into ad-tech, browsers, payments, Business phones and healthcare staffing. Here is what the reported numbers actually say, and what they do not.

The Reason These Five Belong in One Conversation

Investors spent most of 2026 fixated on the mega-cap engines of the artificial-intelligence trade. But the Nasdaq Composite is thousands of names deep, and the more interesting question heading into autumn is whether AI can move the needle for smaller and mid-cap software and services businesses that sell to advertisers, banks, hospitals and offices.

Taboola (NASDAQ: TBLA), Opera (NASDAQ: OPRA), ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), Crexendo (NASDAQ: CXDO) and HealthStream (NASDAQ: HSTM) each reported June-quarter results in early to mid-August 2026, and each is embedding automation into a mature product line rather than selling AI as a stand-alone story. That makes them a useful cross-section, one that sticks to figures the companies have published and separates what is confirmed from what is interpretation or forward-looking.

The Sector Backdrop for September 2026

Through late August and into September 2026, the Nasdaq Composite has traded around record territory, with market coverage crediting continued enthusiasm for AI infrastructure and semiconductors for much of the strength, alongside bouts of Volatility tied to rates and energy prices.

That concentration is precisely why the five names here are worth watching. They are not chip suppliers or hyperscalers; they are application-layer and services businesses testing whether generative and agentic tooling can lift conversion rates, monetization, margins and retention in already-competitive markets. The common thread across their August reports is Margin discipline and automation, not blue-sky AI revenue. Investors deciding whether the AI theme broadens beyond the giants will get real evidence from companies like these.

Taboola (NASDAQ:TBLA): Leaning on Agentic Advertising

Taboola is an open-web advertising and recommendation platform. For the second quarter of 2026, ended June 30, 2026, the company reported revenue of $476.8 million, up 2.4%, with ex-TAC Gross Profit of $192.4 million, up 11.8%. It swung to net income of $4.3 million from a year-earlier net loss of $4.3 million, and adjusted EBITDA rose 22.8% to $55.5 million, a 28.8% margin. Taboola raised its full-year 2026 outlook, guiding to ex-TAC gross profit of $783 million and adjusted EBITDA of $240 million.

The growth engine is Realize, Taboola's performance-advertising platform. In April 2026 the company launched Realize+, described as an agentic system combining a budget-allocating Decision Engine and an ad-creating Element Generator, and opened Realize to Claude Skills as a conversational front door from inside Claude. Chief Executive Adam Singolda tied momentum to Realize plus wins such as Fox News.

The shape of the quarter, modest revenue growth but sharply faster profit, is the interesting part. It suggests Taboola is monetizing existing Supply more efficiently rather than simply adding it. If agentic tools genuinely pull performance budgets onto the open web, ex-TAC growth could keep outpacing revenue, though automation compressing take rates or advertiser adoption lagging the roadmap remain live risks.

Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA): Turning the Browser Into an AI Gateway

Opera is the browser and consumer-software company that trades as an ADR on Nasdaq. Second-quarter 2026 revenue rose 25% year over year to $178.1 million, above the company's guidance range, with net income of $27.6 million, a 15% margin, and adjusted EBITDA of $42.4 million, up 32%, at a 24% margin. Advertising revenue was $115.4 million, or 65% of the total and up 27%, while search-driven query revenue was $62.1 million, up 21%. Opera raised full-year 2026 guidance to revenue of $742 million and adjusted EBITDA of $175 million.

On the product side, Opera launched a Browser Connector for AI services including Claude and ChatGPT, framed as expanding user choice and opening commercial opportunities.

Opera's model has quietly shifted from a search-royalty story to an advertising-led one, and the AI browser positioning is an attempt to stay relevant as chat assistants threaten the traditional search box. If assistants route more activity through the browser rather than around it, Opera's monetization could hold up; if they bypass it, query Economics are at risk. Currency and the durability of high-margin advertising deals remain swing factors.

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW): Converting Payments Volume Into Margin

ACI Worldwide sells real-time payments and biller software to banks, processors and merchants. Second-quarter 2026 revenue was $430 million, up 7%, or 6% in constant currency, with net income of $32 million versus $12 million a year earlier, adjusted EBITDA of $91 million, up 12%, and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.54, up 54%. The Payment Software segment produced $196 million of revenue, up 9%, with issuing-and-acquiring revenue up 33% in constant currency and a 48% adjusted-EBITDA margin, while the Biller segment grew 5% to $234 million but saw adjusted EBITDA fall 13% to $35 million on tough comparisons. ACI raised full-year 2026 guidance to revenue of $1.925 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $560 million.

ACI is less an AI story than a modernization-of-payments story, but the two overlap where Fraud detection, orchestration and real-time rails Demand smarter software. The standout is Payment Software's issuing-and-acquiring surge and its margin profile. If that mix keeps shifting toward higher-margin software, group profitability should benefit; the Biller softness and comparison effects are the near-term watch items.

Crexendo (NASDAQ:CXDO): Riding a Cloud-Communications Acceleration

Crexendo provides cloud communications, UCaaS and the licensed NetSapiens platform used by other service providers. Second-quarter 2026 total revenue jumped 49% year over year to $24.6 million, driven by service revenue of $14.9 million, up 78%, and software-solutions revenue of $7.3 million, up 5%. GAAP net income was $1.1 million, or $0.03 per basic and diluted share, with non-GAAP net income of $4.1 million, or $0.12 per share.

The split matters. The very fast service-revenue growth points to Crexendo's own hosted subscriber base scaling, while the platform-licensing line, which underpins recurring, high-visibility revenue from other carriers, grew more modestly. That mix is the crux of the Investment case: Crexendo is both an operator and an arms dealer to the UCaaS market. Sustaining growth of this magnitude off a small base is difficult, and a single large service contract can distort a quarter, so the durability of the run-rate is what to test in coming reports. AI enters here through automation in contact-center and communications workflows rather than as a reported revenue line.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM): Compounding in Healthcare Workforce SaaS

HealthStream sells workforce-development, credentialing and scheduling software to hospitals and health systems. Second-quarter 2026 revenue reached a record $83.7 million, up 12.5%, with net income of $6.7 million, up 23.8% from $5.4 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $20.6 million, up 16.9%. The company generated $40.6 million of Operating Cash Flow in the first half, declared a quarterly Dividend of $0.035 per share, and noted that its late-2025 acquisitions of Virsys12 and MissionCare Collective added $3.1 million to the quarter's revenue growth. Management reiterated investment in its hStream platform to drive durable long-term growth.

HealthStream is the steadiest profile of the five, profitable, cash-generative and dividend-paying, in a sticky vertical where switching costs are high and staffing pressure is chronic. That defensiveness is the appeal; the trade-off is that double-digit growth here is partly acquisition-assisted. The payoff from platform consolidation and any AI-assisted credentialing or scheduling features should show up gradually in retention and margin rather than in a single dramatic quarter.

What Investors Should Watch

The near-term signposts are specific. For Taboola, watch whether Realize+ adoption keeps ex-TAC profit growing faster than revenue. For Opera, watch the advertising-to-query mix and whether AI browser features defend monetization. For ACI, watch the Payment Software margin and whether Biller stabilizes. For Crexendo, watch the balance between service and platform-licensing growth for signs the surge is repeatable. For HealthStream, watch organic growth net of acquisitions and hStream cross-selling.

Across all five, the wider test is macro: rates, advertising budgets and enterprise IT spending will shape demand more than any single product launch, and each carries execution and competitive risk in crowded markets.

Automation as Operating Discipline, Not a Pitch Deck

These are five distinct business models, open-web advertising, browsers, payments software, cloud communications and healthcare SaaS, each showing in its August 2026 report that automation is now part of how it operates. Four of the five raised or beat their own expectations and improved profitability year over year.

Taboola and Opera are converting AI-branded product launches into faster profit growth than revenue growth, a sign the tooling is doing real work rather than window dressing. ACI's margin expansion is coming from a genuine mix shift toward higher-value payment software, while Crexendo and HealthStream show that steady, unglamorous verticals, business phones and hospital staffing, can post some of the sharpest percentage gains in the group when a small base compounds.