Investing

AMD shares soar as Wall Street says chipmaker’s new products are a ‘reason to dream’

Key Points
  • Advanced Micro Devices reported better than expected earnings results and gave strong sales guidance Wednesday.
  • "AMD turned in a solid beat and raise to estimates as the company's new Ryzen Desktop CPU, Vega, GPU and Epyc server CPU are gaining traction within their various markets," Stifel's chip analyst writes Thursday.
A worker holding a wafer at Advanced Micro Devices
Norbert Millauer | AFP | Getty Images

Advanced Micro Devices' new chips are thriving in the market and will take big share from its competitors, according to Wall Street.

The chipmaker reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings results Wednesday. AMD also gave revenue guidance for its second quarter significantly above Wall Street expectations.

Stifel reiterated its buy rating on AMD shares, predicting strong sales for its latest chips.

"AMD turned in a solid beat and raise to estimates as the company's new Ryzen Desktop CPU, Vega, GPU and Epyc server CPU are gaining traction within their various markets," analyst Kevin Cassidy wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "We continue recommending the AMD shares for the potential upside to estimates driven by adoption of Epyc server CPUs in 2H18."

The company's shares rose 13.7 percent Thursday.

Cassidy raised his price target for AMD shares to $14 from $13, representing 44 percent upside to Wednesday's close.

Even an AMD skeptic admitted this quarter's financial results may be the start of a bright future for the chip maker.

"Overall the company is finally beginning to show some product inflection to investors, with gross margins for the first time stepping up decently vs Street expectations," Bernstein's Stacy Rasgon wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "For the first time since this product cycle kicked off AMD may have given investors at least some reason to dream."

Rasgon reiterated his market-perform rating and $13 price target for AMD shares.

One analyst believes AMD's new products will drive a multi-year product cycle for the company.

"Another beat and raise as AMD is executing on all fronts. The Ryzen and EPYC CPU portfolio is starting to inflect with massive design wins in all of the high x86 CPU volume segments in a cycle that may last for several years," Rosenblatt Securities' Hans Mosesmann wrote in a note to clients Thursday.

Mosesmann reaffirmed his buy rating and $27 price target for the company's stock.

— CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story.

Disclaimer