AMD stock gains after Raymond James upgrades, citing ‘strong confidence’ in datacenter business

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
AMD,
+2.89%
rose 0.5% in premarket trading, to buck the selloff in its semiconductor peers and the broader stock market, after an upgrade at Raymond James. AMD’s stock gains come as the VanEck Semiconductor ETF
SMH,
+1.73%
dropped 0.8% in premarket trading and futures
ES00,
+0.57%
for the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.57%
shed 0.9%. Analyst Chris Caso raised his rating on AMD to strong buy from outperform, while keeping his stock price target at $160, which implies 81.5% upside from Friday’s closing price of $88.14. “As we have become more concerned about cycle risks given potential for slowing consumer demand and elevated inventory levels at customers, we favor those semi companies with strong secular drivers, more muted cyclical exposure and attractive valuations, for which AMD appears well positioned,” Caso wrote in a note to clients. “We have strong confidence regarding AMD’s position and share gains in the datacenter market.” AMD’s stock has tumbled 38.8% year to date through Friday, while the chip ETF has dropped 24.0% and the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.57%
has lost 10.4%.