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Broadcom (AVGO) shares gained as much as 5% on Tuesday after a senior HSBC analyst issued a bullish note in their favor.
Frank Lee upgraded AVGO shares this morning to “Buy” and raised his price target on the artificial intelligence company to $400, indicating potential upside of more than 50% from here.
HSBC’s bullish call is particularly significant since Broadcom stock has already rallied over 75% since early April.
Broadcom Stock to Benefit From Accelerating AI Revenue
Lee favors sticking with AVGO stock despite its meteoric rally in recent months because he expects the company’s AI revenue to accelerate rather significantly over the next two years.
Broadcom already boasts the likes of Google (GOOGL) and Meta (META) as customers – and other hyperscalers will likely “look to invest in its custom silicon program” as well in the coming years, he told clients in a research note today.
“Better ASIC project visibility” and the company’s pricing power in custom AI chips were among other reasons HSBC cited for its positive view on Broadcom stock.
Note that Broadcom offers well-diversified exposure to the AI market given its products are widely used in networking, broadband, wireless, and even server storage.
AVGO Shares Are Not Inexpensive to Own
Despite HSBC announcing a Street-high price target, some caution is warranted since Hock Tan, the company’s president and chief executive, has trimmed his exposure to AVGO stock in recent sessions.
Tan has sold some 117,758 shares of Broadcom for nearly $30 million, according to his latest filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, making investors wonder if the semiconductor stock is indeed overvalued at current levels.
After all, Broadcom stock is currently going for a forward price-earnings multiple of over 45x, which makes it even more expensive than Nvidia (NVDA) at about 36x only.
Wall Street Remains Positive on Broadcom
Despite the aforementioned share sale and the fact that AVGO is already trading at a big premium, Wall Street continues to see significant further upside in it over the next 12 months.
According to Barchart, the consensus rating on Broadcom stock currently sits at “Strong Buy” with the mean target of $288 indicating potential upside of more than 10% from current levels.
