wasn’t a name on many lips a year ago when the server maker traded at less than $100 a share. How things change.Â
On Monday,
entered the
index having risen more than tenfold over the last 12 months as it has been a beneficiary of the rapid construction of data centers to power artificial intelligence. It’s now valued at close to $60 billion, making it a heavyweight even among its new exalted peers.Â
The shares were down 6.5% on Monday at $999.73 a share. The stock has roughly quadrupled since Barron’s featured Super Micro in a December story on potential AI picks.Â
Now the question is how much of a rise is too much. The stock looks to be attracting the attention of those betting it has gone too far, according to securities lending data firm Hazeltree. Super Micro Computer was among the top five shorted large-cap U.S. stocks in February, according to Hazeltree, which aggregates data on about 15,000 equities globally from about 700 funds.Â
Super Micro currently trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of around 39 times according to FactSet — making it slightly pricier on that metric than fellow AI favorite
Nvidia
,
which trades at around 34 times. Wall Street looks to be cautious on the stock too, with analysts polled by FactSet having an average target price of $811.04 on the stock, although 11 of 17 ratings are still the equivalent of Buy.Â
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Qualcomm’s Latest Chip Brings Generative AI to More DevicesÂ
is pushing to get artificial intelligence onto mobile devices as quickly as possible. The company’s latest chipset might help that goal by enabling AI on more affordable smartphones.Â
Qualcomm said Monday that it had launched the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. it’s aimed at lower tier devices than the previous Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which is powering $1,000+ smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.Â
The 8s chipset supports AI models including
Alphabet
’s
Gemini Nano and
’ Llama 2, Qualcomm said. It will be used by manufacturers including China’s
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and Honor, with the first device using it expected to be announced in March.
Qualcomm shares were down 0.3% on Monday.
Smartphones have gradually come to be the dominant way of accessing most new technology and AI looks to be going the same way. That would be good news for Qualcomm and its partners, and raises more questions about how
is going to respond when it comes to the iPhone.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com
