Stock price when the opinion was issued
Having data centres in different regions is going to be increasingly important. AI is real, but absolutely ahead of itself. Phenomenal CEO. Up 30% YTD makes him choke on valuation. Best of breed tends to get a premium multiple. May get an opportunity to buy on a dip if we see some weak news coming out of the US.
It sold off after last Thursday's report: revenues +2-% YOY, EPS +44% YOY with semis and infrastructure software numbers also impressing. Also, guidance was healthy. However, shares ran up before that report, their non-AI semis business disappointed and guidance says it will be slow to recover. Also, AVGO didn't comment on current or prospective cuctoemrs. Gross margins for Q2 were in-line, but guidance was weak. He still likes the stock: AI semis revenues beat and are expected to grow next quarter from $4.4 to $5.1 billion. Their networking side is also growing.
One of the things his team's looking at right now is that it seems some of the regulations surrounding the semiconductor industry will be reduced (specifically China, but other countries as well). That could mean an expanded market for the semi manufacturing equipment companies, such as KLAC. AVGO has also been a strong performer, and he owns some NVDA. Those two names have strong relative price performance, are economically sensitive, cyclical, and have pricing power.
Most important thing to know about semiconductor stocks, AI, and technology: it's exciting at the time, but there are going to be cyclical downturns. So there's going to be a pullback in capital expenditures in the space. Hard to tell when that's going to happen.
Pretty strong chart, with stock price well above the 200-day MA. Higher highs and higher lows. Not overly expensive compared to a lot of tech names out there. Trades around 27-28x earnings, 16-17% growth rate. Forward price to sales is up there at 13x. PEG ratio is 2x.
Need to be very selective in which names you want to own. There are some tech names trading at a PEG of 1x. Starting to see divergence in valuation. We're getting later in the game to be overly exuberant about technology because earnings are now broadening out beyond tech.