Bank of America double upgrades this telecom stock, says it can jump 30%

Published Wed, May 10 202311:00 AM EDT

It's time to buy InterDigital after its strong first-quarter results , according to Bank of America. Analyst Tal Liani double upgraded InterDigital to buy from underperform, saying the developer of 5G technology has a robust pipeline and a growing total addressable market that should drive upside for the stock. "Strong 1Q results and robust catalysts over the next 1-2 years (medium-term) drive us to upgrade InterDigital, a leader in 5G device licensing, to Buy from U/P," Liani wrote on Wednesday. InterDigital is up by more than 61% this year, but the analyst's price target increase suggests that shares can climb another 30% from Tuesday's closing price. Liani hiked his price objective to $105 from $55. InterDigital shares popped 5% on Wednesday. Part of what's driving the rosy medium-term outlook are possible licensing agreements with Lenovo, cellphone maker Oppo and Vivo, according to the analyst. In March, Lenovo was ordered by a U.K. court to pay InterDigital $138.7 million for a license on its telecommunications patents, a ruling that could work in InterDigital's favor with other companies. "InterDigital is currently in binding arbitration with Samsung and recently received a favorable ruling in the Lenovo case," read the note. "The company already recognizes these revenues, though at a conservative level, and could see some upside once the cases finalize. InterDigital also has ongoing cases with Oppo and Vivo, which should each add $40- 60mn in recurring revenues per year." The company reported first-quarter numbers that beat analyst expectations. InterDigital earned $3.58 per share, far more than the 59 cents per share analysts polled by StreetAccount expected. It posted revenue of $202.4 million, topping the $99.7 million forecast. "Strong 1Q results lend further credibility to NTM upside Driven by ~$85mn in catch-up royalties from Lenovo, 1Q total revenues grew 100% YoY to $202mn, vs. Street's 8%/$109mn estimates," read the note. "Without Lenovo, total revenues would have still beaten estimates by ~7%." —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.