A mini-rally in the world of semiconductors makes many on Wall Street sit up and take notice. After logging a horrible 2022 with its seemingly endless supply of bad news, there’s been a decent lift across the board, particularly with some. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. NASDAQ: AMD is one such semiconductor stock that’s gotten off to a great start, and there are several signs that this will continue into the rest of the quarter. Let’s jump in and take a look at the bull thesis.
Industry Tailwinds
On Monday of this week, the team over at Barclays upgraded AMD shares based on a brightening outlook for the industry overall. Also upgraded in the same move were Qualcomm Inc NASDAQ: QCOM and Seagate Technology Holdings PLC NASDAQ: STC, indicative of what many are calling the start of a fresh rally for semiconductors.
In a note to clients, analyst Blayne Curtis wrote that "it would have been nice if the group got as cheap as we have seen in other downturns, but we underestimated the amount of money that wanted to move into semis, and we don’t see the group testing October lows."
Investors received the move well, with AMD shares jumping 7% to put them up close to 30% over the past fortnight. Curtis sees increased cloud spending in the second half of the year and strengthening economic conditions in China as two key pillars that should underpin the sector's strength.
When you consider that shares of AMD alone have fallen as much as 70% from their 2021 highs, it’s easy to understand why investors are so keen to get back in at what might be a generational low.
The bullish outlook echoed that of KeyBanc Capital Markets, who went so far as to name AMD as one of their top picks for the year ahead last week. John Vinh and the team there believe AMD has captured a ton of market share from Intel Corporation NASDAQ: INTC, which it’s unlikely to give back.
And even though they expect revenue from consumer-facing markets like PCs and smartphones to drop in the years ahead, the upside from cloud-related revenue should more than offset this.
In addition, against some of its peers, AMD shares still look expensive, notwithstanding the fall they’ve endured. Their price-to-earnings ratio of 45 could make investors think twice, especially when Qualcomm’s is barely 11 and Intel’s is only 9. At the same time, AMD’s shares are the best-performing of this trio.
30% Upside and Still Going
From last October’s low of around $55, AMD shares have tacked on an impressive 30% and look set to break above near-term resistance at $80. Qualcomm’s are only up 20% over the same timeframe, while Intel’s are up 18%. Any fresh position in AMD won’t come without its risks however.
This is still a very beaten-down stock, and investors couldn’t get rid of shares quickly enough as the economic outlook darkened over the past year. And any sign of a return to this uncertainty or a fresh uptick in inflation, is sure to dampen the level of optimism. But on the whole, however, it’s fair for us to target what Bank of America is calling a ‘soft landing’ for semiconductors this year.
Marketbeat’s MarketRank tool has shares rated a Moderate Buy, with about a 30% upside still to be realized from current levels. Were they to hit that in the coming weeks, it would have them trading back in the triple digits, and they’d have completely broken the downtrend that haunted them in 2022.
We’ve written a lot about semiconductor stocks recently, like with Qualcomm here and NVIDIA Corporation NASDAQ: NVDA here. Among these well-known names, AMD is arguably the most attractive, and we expect shares to continue rallying into the year ahead.
Before you consider Advanced Micro Devices, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Advanced Micro Devices wasn't on the list.
While Advanced Micro Devices currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here

We are about to experience the greatest A.I. boom in stock market history...
Thanks to a pivotal economic catalyst, specific tech stocks will skyrocket just like they did during the "dot com" boom in the 1990s.
That’s why, we’ve hand-selected 7 tiny tech disruptor stocks positioned to surge.
- The first pick is a tiny under-the-radar A.I. stock that's trading for just $3.00. This company already has 98 registered patents for cutting-edge voice and sound recognition technology... And has lined up major partnerships with some of the biggest names in the auto, tech, and music industry... plus many more.
- The second pick presents an affordable avenue to bolster EVs and AI development…. Analysts are calling this stock a “buy” right now and predict a high price target of $19.20, substantially more than its current $6 trading price.
- Our final and favorite pick is generating a brand-new kind of AI. It's believed this tech will be bigger than the current well-known leader in this industry… Analysts predict this innovative tech is gearing up to create a tidal wave of new wealth, fueling a $15.7 TRILLION market boom.
Right now, we’re staring down the barrel of a true once-in-a-lifetime moment. As an investment opportunity, this kind of breakthrough doesn't come along every day.
And the window to get in on the ground-floor — maximizing profit potential from this expected market surge — is closing quickly...
Simply enter your email below to get the names and tickers of the 7 small stocks with potential to make investors very, very happy.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.