No Respect at All: Bernstein Calls a Buy on Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Stock

It was perhaps the favorite catch phrase of comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who famously got “no respect at all.” And Bernstein analysts recently picked up on this by declaring chip stock Qualcomm (QCOM) to be the “…Rodney Dangerfield of semiconductor stocks.” Investors, however, were not about to let that stand, and sent Qualcomm shares up nearly 2% in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.

The clever naming came from Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon, a five-star-rated analyst on TipRanks, who decided to give Qualcomm some respect of his own by keeping the Outperform rating in place, and a $185 per share price target, which represents an upside potential of about 26%, noted a CNBC report. But Rasgon was not just feeling charitable; rather, Rasgon sees a significant growth potential that a lot of investors are simply sleeping on.

Doubts about Qualcomm’s growth prospects are fading fast, Rasgon noted, as the smartphone market has stabilized and competition is quieting down. Certainly, the loss of Apple (AAPL) business was a blow, but it was also a blow for which Qualcomm has already taken its lumps, reports note. Plus, with the smartphone market about to bottom in general, Rasgon noted, that should help give Qualcomm a bit of a boost going forward as well.

A Snapdragon With Some Pop

One of the things that might fuel some comeback hopes for Qualcomm is a new version of the Snapdragon chip that has been rumored to emerge. Reports suggest the new Snapdragon X2 Elite is set to pack a hefty 18 cores with 64 gigabytes of RAM. Moreover, Qualcomm is reportedly already testing the chip out, which means it may make its way to markets before too much longer.

Word about the new Snapdragons has been quiet of late, though, as the last reports came out back in March. But what we have heard so far suggests the new Snapdragons will be some serious hardware and give Qualcomm a significant boost in the PC market if all the testing goes as hoped.

What is the Price Target for QCOM?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on QCOM stock based on eight Buys, eight Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 28.25% loss in its share price over the past year, the average QCOM price target of $177.75 per share implies 19.12% upside potential.

See more QCOM analyst ratings

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