AMD shares rise after analyst predicts it will win more server chip deals

  • Stifel reiterates its buy rating for AMD shares, saying the company will meet management's forecast of mid-single digit server chip market share by year-end.
  • The firm also predicts the chipmaker will win more server design deals.
A chip the size of a coin, used in central processing units and a graphic processing units developed by the US-headquartered Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Sam Yeh | AFP | Getty Images
A chip the size of a coin, used in central processing units and a graphic processing units developed by the US-headquartered Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

AMD's new enterprise chips will gain big share this year, according to one Wall Street firm.

Stifel raised its price target for AMD's stock to $17 from $14, representing 24 percent upside to Thursday's close.

The firm predicted the company will hit management's forecast of mid-single digit server chip market share by year-end versus its less than 1 percent share at the end of 2017.

"We continue to see AMD meeting its product introduction milestones which is increasing their customers' confidence in adopting" AMD processors, analyst Kevin Cassidy said in a note to clients Thursday. "Now we see end demand forecasts for PCs, servers and graphics add-in-cards as increasing … we believe AMD's EPYC server CPU is winning server designs and AMD's broader PC CPU offering will allow AMD to outperform the market."

Cassidy reiterated his buy rating for AMD shares. The company's stock rose 4.4 percent after the report.

On Friday, AMD said its EPYC chip will power Cisco's C4200 Rack Server Chassis later this year. Cisco said it will be the company's "highest density" server offering, with 128 percent more chip cores per rack than its other platforms.

"We believe other server OEMs have realized the benefits of EPYC and will be making similar announcements soon," the analyst said. "In our view, the company has removed our concerns for execution risk. We believe the new products can expand gross margin and earnings."

AMD is one of the best performing stocks this year. Its shares are up 33.6 percent year to date through Thursday versus the S&P 500's 1.2 percent gain.