Nasdaq NVDA Nvidia

SoftBank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday share buybacks remain an option for the conglomerate, amid a slide in its shares.

Last year, when Nvidia (NVDA) announced it intended to acquire UK chip designer ARM for $40 billion, it set up the prospect of the chip giant becoming, well, even bigger. The addition of ARM’s semiconductor IP portfolio should add another arrow to the quiver, especially when considering ARM’s large exposure to the mobile device market.

Since the deal still needs to be approved by the U.S., UK., European and Chinese regulators, it is uncertain whether the acquisition will eventually go through. In fact, Evercore's C.J. Muse thinks investors have a downbeat view regarding the deal’s prospects.

“We continue to think the market views the probability of a merger here as very low, which means there is very little of the benefit from ARM embedded in NVDA’s shares,” the 5-star analyst said. “Thus, we continue to view a successful completion of the ARM transaction as a free call option to investors.”

It’s not only Muse who is trying to convince investors they will benefit from the merger. Nvidia has been on the front foot trying to explain why an Nvidia/Arm pairing would ultimately benefit ARM’s customers and investors, alike.

Muse laid out the pitch, explaining that as a data-oriented economy becomes more prevalent across the globe, increasingly sophisticated frameworks are continuing to sprout. And with each passing day, as the number of end applications gets pushed further ahead by this continuous innovation, it is “becoming more difficult for ARM to address these growth vectors on its own.”

“That is why it needs NVDA,” says Muse “Who can offer a resource-rich platform of GPU/DPU hardware and an accelerated software stack – a great complementary to ARM’s world class portfolio of CPU IP.”

What’s more, the cost of this technological innovation can be reduced, by ARM customers being able to leverage NVDA’s pre-built platform to “invest R&D dollars in more specialized tasks.”

As for the regulatory hurdles, Muse says Nvidia remains upbeat on gaining approval from all geographies, “in particular, the UK and China.”

As such, Nvidia remains a "top pick" for Muse, who has an Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating for the shares and a $750 price target. Muse might be an Nvidia bull, but his current price target implies shares will remain range-bound for the time being. (To watch Muse’ track record, click here)

It’s a similar story when looking at the rest of the Street’s Nvidia reviews. The analysts’ average price target is $740, indicating minimal downside for the shares over the next 12-months. However, somewhat confusingly, rating wise, almost all are positive. Barring one Hold, the stock’s Strong Buy consensus rating is based on 27 Buys. It will be interesting to see whether the analysts downgrade their ratings or upgrade price targets over the coming months. (See Nvidia stock analysis on TipRanks)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

The Nasdaq ended at a record high on Tuesday, lifted by Amazon, Microsoft and other top-shelf tech companies as investors shifted their focus to growth stocks.

The Nasdaq ended at a record high on Tuesday, lifted by Amazon, Microsoft and other top-shelf tech companies as investors shifted their focus to growth stocks.

The Nasdaq ended at a record high on Tuesday, lifted by Amazon, Microsoft and other top-shelf tech companies as investors shifted their focus to growth stocks.

The Nasdaq hit an intra-day record high on Tuesday, lifted by Amazon, Microsoft and other top-shelf growth companies, while investors awaited remarks about the economic recovery from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The Nasdaq was on pace for a record closing high on Tuesday, as investors anticipated Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks for clues on how the central bank is balancing inflation risk with its promise to ensure a full jobs market recovery.

Comparing units outstanding versus one week ago at the coverage universe of ETFs at ETF Channel, the biggest inflow was seen in the Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF which added 20,160,000 units, or a 34.4% increase week over week. Among the largest underlying components of SPHQ

By Goran Damchevski

InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips

InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips

In today's video, I look at fundamentals, valuation metrics, and recent news for Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA). Both companies have seen a surge in stock prices in the past few days due to recent partnerships or price target upgrades. Below I shar

In early trading on Monday, shares of Moderna topped the list of the day's best performing components of the Nasdaq 100 index, trading up 4.0%. Year to date, Moderna registers a 98.2% gain.

In early trading on Monday, shares of CF Industries Holdings topped the list of the day's best performing components of the S&P 500 index, trading up 5.0%. Year to date, CF Industries Holdings registers a 32.3% gain.

InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips

InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips

Generally speaking, it pays to be bullish on Wall Street. Despite navigating its way through Black Monday in 1987, the dot-com bubble, the Great Recession, and more recently the coronavirus crash, the average annual total return for the benchmark S&P 500 since 1980, including

It appears we’ve entered a new age of investing. The prevailing sentiment seems to be, "Out with the old and in with the new."

Intel (INTC) is a technology company which finds itself on the “old” end of the spectrum. Some investors seem to simply believe this is a company of the past. When compared to competitors such as Nvidia (NVDA) or Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), we can see how this is the case. Looking at these companies’ respective stock charts tells a rather interesting story.

Indeed, increased competition in the chip market has eroded Intel’s market share and margins in recent years. With investors focusing on growth over stability, AMD and Nvidia are two examples of companies that have seen their share prices skyrocket, at the expense of Intel. (See Intel stock chart on TipRanks)

Let’s discuss whether Intel could in fact be a decent value pick in this environment. After all, at some level, even the most attractive growth stocks become overvalued relative to the “old guard.”

New CEO Means New Growth Trajectory?

Investors in Intel saw some pretty impressive momentum through the end of Q1 this year. Much of the reason for the increase in INTC stock was the hiring of Pat Gelsinger, who came on as the company’s CEO in mid-February.

Indeed, the company’s new chief has proposed some intriguing strategic shifts for investors to consider. During the CEO’s first extended public appearance in March, he indicated that Intel was intent on doubling down on its manufacturing capabilities.

How big was this double down?

Well, Mr. Gelsinger proposed investing as much as $20 billion into two new chip manufacturing facilities in Arizona. He dubbed this strategic move as one which will reinvent the company. In his words, “Intel is back. The old Intel is now the new Intel.”

Sounds good to many investors.

Indeed, years of outsourcing to countries like Taiwan has destabilized domestic production in the U.S. In fact, approximately two-thirds of the world’s chip manufacturing capacity exists in Taiwan, according to some sources.

As one of the few remaining players with a substantial manufacturing footprint in the U.S., Intel stands well-positioned to benefit from Democratic investments policies in the domestic production of essential goods. Some speculation has arisen that Intel could potentially successfully lobby the Biden Administration for government funds to support the company’s massive investments in U.S. manufacturing capacity.

For investors in INTC stock, that could be a huge win indeed.

New Infrastructure Processing Units

On Monday, Intel announced the introduction of its new Infrastructure Processing Unit, or IPU. Intel believes this IPU, in combination with the Xeon processor, can offer “highly intelligent infrastructure acceleration.”

According to the company’s EVP of the Data Plaforms Group, Navin Shenoy, “There is a need for silicon solutions that act as a control point across the cloud infrastructure to accelerate that overhead portion - the infrastructure functions. We call this silicon solution a new unit of computing: the infrastructure processing unit.”

The company is reportedly partnering with leading cloud players such as Microsoft (MSFT), Baidu (BIDU), JD.com (JD), and VMware (VMW) to roll out this intelligent infrastructure acceleration. Hyperscale clients stand to benefit from this integration via reduced overhead and improved CPU performance.

The degree to which adoption of these IPU products becomes mainstream remains to be seen. However, this is a key growth driver that investors have their eyes on right now.

What Analysts Are Saying About INTC Stock

According to TipRanks’ analyst rating consensus, INTC stock comes in as a Hold. Out of 31 analyst ratings, there are 12 Buy recommendations, 11 Hold recommendations, and 8 Sell recommendations.

As for price targets, the average analyst Intel price target is $66.31. Analyst price targets range from a low of $42.00 per share to a high of $85.00 per share.

Bottom Line

Intel is a chip manufacturer with a long and storied history. It’s one of America’s leading players in high-tech manufacturing, and has been for decades. However, the allure of younger and more aggressive growth plays in this sector has taken a lot of luster away from Intel as a viable tech holding for many investors.

That said, it’s clear Intel has a vision for an innovative future. If the company can indeed execute on its mission and grow its U.S. footprint in this favorable political environment, perhaps this is a stock that could once again take off.

Disclosure: Chris MacDonald held no position in any of the stocks mentioned in this article at the time of publication.

Disclaimer: The information contained herein is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this article should be taken as a solicitation to purchase or sell securities.

Are These The Best Semiconductor Stocks To Buy This Week?Semiconductor stocks have been on the radar of many investors in the stock market over the past year. It is no secret that semiconductor chips are in high demand right now and chip manufacturing companies are unable to keep

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) has powered its way to impressive returns, especially in the past couple of years. The willingness for fabless chip companies to outsource their chip manufacturing work to TSMC as well as a burgeoning technical lead the company has d