Bernstein reiterates Qualcomm stock rating at Outperform on AI potential

Investing.com - Bernstein SocGen Group has reiterated an Outperform rating on Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) with a price target of $185.00, citing the company’s emerging artificial intelligence capabilities. The stock, currently trading at $187.68 with a market cap of $201.31 billion, has shown strong momentum with a 12% return over the past six months. According to InvestingPro analysis, Qualcomm maintains a "GREAT" financial health score.

The reiteration follows Qualcomm’s announcement of new chip and rack-scale AI datacenter products for inference, specifically the AI200 and AI250 models, along with a partnership with HUMAIN in Saudi Arabia to deploy 200 MW of these racks beginning in 2026.

Bernstein describes Qualcomm as "an out of favor play" that it had previously pitched as "the Rodney Dangerfield of semiconductor stocks" despite understanding market concerns about Apple business rolling off, potentially high earnings estimates, and smartphone market exposure.

The research firm notes Qualcomm’s targets of approximately $50 billion in 2029 revenues without Apple and roughly $14-$15 in earnings per share, which didn’t include datacenter opportunities now represented by both AI server CPUs and AI server accelerators.

While Bernstein acknowledges uncertainty about traction for Qualcomm’s AI products, it argues these opportunities currently contribute nothing to their model or the stock’s multiple, suggesting the company deserves some benefit from the "small slice of a big pie thesis" that has boosted other technology stocks.

In other recent news, Qualcomm has announced it will pay a quarterly cash dividend of $0.89 per share on December 18, 2025, maintaining its regular distribution to shareholders. The company has also transitioned to Arm’s ninth-generation computing architecture, "v9," for its latest PC and phone chips, which could enhance artificial intelligence performance and potentially benefit Arm Holdings. Additionally, Qualcomm’s board of directors has elected Dr. Jeremy Kolter as a new member and appointed him to the Governance Committee. In a strategic move, Patricia Grech has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, while Neil Martin will now lead corporate development, focusing on mergers and acquisitions. Benchmark has maintained its Buy rating for Qualcomm, noting a strong quarterly performance with significant growth in automotive and IoT revenues.

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