Super Micro surges after Raymond James calls the AI server company a buy
Super Micro Computer is one of the top-performing stocks in the S&P 500 after Raymond James initiated coverage on the stock with a “buy” rating and price target of $41.
Per Bloomberg, analyst Simon Leopold said the company has “jumped into a lead with 9% of the AI platform market and 31% share among branded suppliers according to Dell’Oro.”
Super Micro remains in a unique, seemingly sweet, spot: even after its latest round of guidance cuts has spurred analysts to reduce 12-month forward earnings estimates to about $2.76 from $3.26, it’s still a relatively cheap stock, trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13.9x (versus 21.3x for the S&P 500). And it’s levered to the massive AI capex boom, which is growing far faster than the economy as a whole.
While recent missteps have surely reduced investors’ faith in the ability of the company to meet its near-term financial objectives (and its checkered history of accounting issues may deepen trust issues with management), above-average growth coupled with a below-average valuation can be a pretty simple formula to producing market-beating returns.