‘Time to Load Up,’ Says Analyst as AMD Stock Wins Support on AI Buildout

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) shares have been on one almighty run, up 66% over the past month despite today’s ~4% dip, as investors grow more confident in the chipmaker’s AI positioning.

A big chunk of the gains can be attributed to Intel, whose strong earnings last week reinforced the view that AI-driven demand is broadening across the chip space.

Meanwhile, sentiment is shifting on the analyst side as well. D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria, previously among the skeptics, has now flipped bullish, upgrading the stock from Neutral to Buy and lifting his price target from $220 to $375, implying about 12% upside from current levels. (To watch Luria’s track record, click here)

What’s driving the turnaround? In Luria’s view, it comes down to a “structural increase in CPU demand,” paired with improving clarity around AMD’s positioning in what he describes as a massive data center expansion cycle.

Unsurprisingly, the analyst also sees Intel’s last week’s beat as a signal of “meaningful upside” to AMD’s estimates, beginning with the March quarter report, which AMD is set to deliver on May 5th.

Luria had assumed CPUs would be the “next major bottleneck,” but Intel’s results suggest that this is already translating into very substantial upside. Over recent months, it has become clearer that the CPU is “reasserting itself” as a critical foundation of the AI era, with what was once a relatively subdued CPU market now accelerating as agentic workloads push compute demand beyond GPUs. Luria sees Intel’s 1Q26 results as an important signal of this demand, with Intel CFO Zinsner noting the company is anticipating that the industry will grow at a double-digit rate, with momentum extending into 2027.

Additionally, Intel’s CEO has suggested that the current GPU-to-CPU ratio of about eight to one in pretraining could shift toward a more equal mix as workloads transition toward more agentic applications.

“We view Intel’s results as a precursor for a huge step-up for AMD’s CPU franchise and believe the structural shift toward agentic AI workloads is creating unprecedented demand for server CPUs,” Luria further added.

Luria also thinks AMD is “favorably positioned” to meaningfully increase pricing across its lineup, thereby supporting margin expansion, given that demand will continue to exceed supply for the foreseeable future. As a result, Luria has increased 2026 estimates by $2 billion for revenue and $1.5 billion for gross profit, both now sitting “materially above” the guide and the Street’s forecast.

Although AMD has a lower CPU share, if Intel is able to add around $2.5 billion of annual revenue and gross profit on the back of tight CPU supply, Luria is comfortable with assuming elevated levels for AMD.

Beyond CPUs, Luria also concedes AMD’s long-term guidance now appears significantly more achievable than it did just a few weeks ago, and here the analyst performs a mea culpa of sorts.

“We regret not underwriting AMD’s participation in the GPU buildout upon initiation, and the addition of Meta’s 6 gigawatts and (customer) OpenAI’s $122bn fundraise tip the scale in favor of endorsing the 35% CAGR trajectory,” the analyst summed up.

Luria now joins 18 other AMD bulls with Buy ratings, although an additional 8 Holds make the consensus view a Moderate Buy. Meanwhile, the huge share gains have taken the stock 12% above the $295.04 average price target. With this in mind, watch out for more revisions shortly. (See AMD stock forecast)

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.