What Happened?
Shares of semiconductor company Semtech (NASDAQ: SMTC) jumped 8.7% in the afternoon session after Oppenheimer upgraded the stock from 'Perform' to 'Outperform' and established a price target of $81.
The upgrade followed management meetings where Semtech's CEO detailed growth opportunities in technologies for data center AI applications. In its decision, Oppenheimer highlighted the increased adoption of Semtech's LoRa technology for use in new growth areas including drones and robotics.
Adding to the positive news, Semtech also announced it was sampling critical components to set new performance standards for 1.6T optical infrastructure in AI data centers. Furthermore, the company partnered with POET Technologies to launch high-performance 1.6T Receiver Optical Engines for AI networks. This news followed a reiterated "Buy" rating from an analyst at Robert W. Baird, who noted solid progress in the company's AI infrastructure and LoRa business projects.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Semtech’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 51 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 10 months ago when the stock gained 23.5% on the news that the company reported impressive third-quarter results that blew past analysts' revenue and EBITDA expectations. Its full-year guidance for the same metrics outperformed Wall Street's estimates.
While the top line strength was broad-based, management called out the data center, which benefitted from AI-driven product demand. Zooming out, we think this quarter featured some important positives.
Semtech is up 9.2% since the beginning of the year, but at $67.81 per share, it is still trading 12.1% below its 52-week high of $77.15 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Semtech’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,280.
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