Nvidia shares have slipped 16% from their highs in May
Credit: Daniel Ceng / Anadolu / Getty Images Key Takeaways
Nvidia, Broadcom, and other AI chip leaders have seen their stocks pull back from their highs in recent weeks, while investors have piled into memory stocks.
Analysts at Citi and other firms suggested that could mean an opportunity for investors to snap up the stocks at a discount.
AI chip stocks have pulled back from recent highs. Some Wall Street analysts are saying buy the dip.
Not all chip shares have suffered lately. Investors have piled into memory maker Micron Technology (MU) with gusto in recent weeks, sending its stock to record highs last week. But other leading AI-related semiconductor stocks haven’t felt the same love: Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), which dropped about 1% Wednesday, have slipped 16% from their highs in May, while custom AI chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO) is 25% off its early June record.
That could leave them primed for a rebound, according to some experts.
Why This Matters to Investors
A pullback in some corners of the semiconductor sector in recent weeks may have created an opportunity to snap up some top AI names at a discount, according to Wall Street analysts.
“Some of our favorites, even tech companies that we don’t formally cover, are screaming buys,” Freedom Capital Markets’s Paul Meeks said in a note Wednesday. He pointed to Nvidia as a prime example: Meeks believes “skeptics have exaggerated the threats” to its AI chip franchise, and investors’ reluctance to reward Nvidia for strong growth in its fundamentals “ain’t right.”
Jefferies and JPMorgan analysts recently told clients they would buy the dip in Broadcom, anticipating strong AI-driven demand will lead its shares to new highs in the next 12 months.
Analysts at Citi, who’ve said they view the recent pullback as “healthy,” highlighted Nvidia and Broadcom as top picks in the semiconductor sector in a note Monday. They also highlighted Qualcomm (QCOM), which has plunged 30% from its highs in late May, and AI chipmaker Cerebras (CBRS), which recently traded nearly 40% off its opening price in May and even further below post-IPO highs.
“Fundamentally, AI compute demand remains undersupplied,” Citi wrote, which bodes well for these stocks.
Citi also said Micron, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel (INTC), and Marvell (MRVL), which took a big hit Wednesday amid a broad slide in chip stocks, could still be set for more gains.
D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria this week on CNBC said he believes Nvidia and Micron have been trading “as if the cycle is peaking now.” That, he said, could reflect both a disconnect in the way investors are thinking about their growth potential, and uncertainty around the future of AI.