KEY POINTS
- Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore reinstated AMD with an Overweight rating and announced a $103 price target.
- "If you want to own semis, then you want to own a name like AMD or Nvidia," Joe Terranova said.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc was featured as the call of the day Wednesday on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report."
What Happened: Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore reinstated AMD with an Overweight rating and announced a $103 price target.
Moore believes AMD can rise 20% despite semiconductor industry headwinds, citing strength in AMD's server business and a more attractive valuation following the recent pullback in the name.
Why It Matters: The Halftime Report panel remains unanimously bullish on the semiconductor space.
Boston Private's Shannon Saccocia weighed AMD stock against competitors Intel Corp and NVIDIA Corp on Wednesday.
"Intel is probably at least one year if not three years behind them in terms of manufacturing and, kind of, the new chip cycle," Saccocia said.
AMD is also gaining share in the PC space, she noted.
"Nvidia obviously has the corner on gaming, but AMD is right there, and so I think from a valuation perspective, even with the headwinds of potentially some oversupply concerns going into next year, we think the valuation is really compelling in this stock right now," Saccocia said.
Virtus Investment Partners' Joe Terranova explained that the chip sector will be highly correlated with the overall markets, so if investors see a potential market recovery ahead, they should be looking at the semiconductor space.
"And if you want to own semis, then you want to own a name like AMD or Nvidia. I choose to own AMD. I own AMD for the valuation. I own AMD for the nearly $10 billion buyback. I own AMD for the excellent management," Terranova said.
Requisite Capital Management's Bryn Talkington owns Nvidia and is considering initiating a position in AMD, she said.
"I think we are going to continue to once again be in this market purgatory, and you're going to get wonderful opportunities to pick up great companies, like an Nvidia if you don't own it or an Advanced Micro Devices, because these companies will have very long runways over the next five to 10 years," Talkington said.