On Monday, Qualcomm Incorporated’s shares surged after KeyBanc lifted its price target for the tech company by 13.89% from $180.00 to $205.00.
The California-headquartered semiconductor firm’s stock edged 1.22% higher to $173.62 per share on April 08. Moreover, industry watchers anticipate a 1.19% increase to $175.69 apiece in the following market session.
According to smartphone specialists, Qualcomm will likely regain a 100.00% monopoly on the Galaxy S25 series, which will be released next year. Previously, Samsung ditched Snapdragon in some of its Galaxy S24 phones in favor of its in-house Exynos chips.
However, analysts noted that advancements in Exynos technology are too slow to keep pace with the S25’s expected performance. Meanwhile, Qualcomm is already working on the successor to Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the top smartphone chip for generative AI.
Furthermore, KeyBanc sees the chipmaker gaining up to 50.00% market share from Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek. This will help Qualcomm recover after its smartphone processor market share slid from 32.00% in Q3 to 23.00% in Q4.
Lastly, market experts expect the Snapdragon maker to generate total earnings per share of $9.75 this year. It would mark a 0.46% increase from $8.79 EPS in 2023, solidifying its position as the world’s second-largest smartphone chipmaker.
KeyBanc Optimistic of Upcoming Qualcomm Elite X
KeyBanc expects a massive appreciation in Qualcomm stock upon the mid-2024 release of its Snapdragon Elite X next-generation PC CPU. In early pre-release testing, the Arm-based chip beat the Intel Core 7 Ultra 755H in most benchmarks by wide margins.
In addition, Microsoft and Qualcomm partnered to create a better PC to counter the Apple MacBook. The Bill Gates-founded corporation is working on an alternate version of Windows 11 designed for systems using Arm-based architecture.
Lastly, KeyBanc emphasized reports that Microsoft plans to launch a new Surface laptop powered by the Snapdragon Elite X. The collaboration grants Qualcomm another major business partner, reducing its reliance on Samsung.