Chip-gear maker Lam Research (LRCX) and graphics-chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) received bullish reports from Wall Street analysts, while communications-chip maker Qorvo (QRVO) was slapped with a rating downgrade on Thursday.
FBN Securities initiated coverage of Lam Research stock on Thursday with an outperform rating and a price target of 300. Shares were up fractionally to 223.08 on the stock market today. Lam broke out of a double-bottom base with a buy point of 218.58 on March 9, and notched a record high of 234.88 on Tuesday.
Lam currently is ranked No. 9 on the IBD 50 list of top-performing growth stocks.
Fremont, Calif.-based Lam “is a leading semiconductor capital equipment company with leading positions” in a couple of markets, FBN analyst Shebly Seyrafi said in a note to clients. That includes fields known as etch — where it has more than half the market — as well as a field known as deposition, or depositing materials on the chip. It also holds a share in the high teens in the wafer clean market, Seyrafi said, adding it’s a top supplier of equipment to memory-chip manufacturers.
RBC Capital Markets on Wednesday reiterated its outperform rating on Nvidia and raised its price target to 285 from 280.
RBC analyst Mitch Steves said he has increased confidence in Nvidia’s earnings power and continued strength in the data center and gaming markets.
Nvidia inched up 0.2% to close at 249.34. Its shares hit a record high of 254.50 on Tuesday. Nvidia is currently ranked No. 13 on the IBD 50 list.
But Qorvo fell 3.9% to 79 after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to underperform from neutral. The investment bank cited limited upside and increased competition for its rating change.
Merrill also resumed coverage of Broadcom (AVGO) with a buy rating and price target of 340. Broadcom was up 2.8% 267.76.
