AMD started with Buy at Roth/MKM, Take-Two gains on upgrade: 4 big analyst picks

Investing.com — Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst picks you may have missed since yesterday: a Buy initiation at AMD, and upgrades at Take-Two Interactive Software, Kraft Heinz, and Aspen Technology.

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AMD started with Buy at Roth/MKM

Roth/MKM initiated coverage on Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) with a Buy rating and a price target of $125.00, as reported in real-time on InvestingPro.

For the upcoming Q4/23, the analysts expect revenues of $6.1 billion (a 5.2% increase from the previous quarter) and EPS of $0.77. For fiscal 2024, they forecast revenue of $26.6B (an 18% year-over-year increase) and EPS of $3.74, aligning closely with the current market consensus.

“Our AMD price target of $125 represents a CY24 P/ E of 33x, a premium versus the overall technology peers' CY24 average P/E of 26x, reflecting AMD’s relative growth opportunity,” commented Roth/MKM.

The analysts also highlighted several key risks for AMD's share appreciation, including (1) reliance on the growth rate in data center infrastructure and client compute markets, (2) competition in the emerging AI sector, (3) challenges associated with merger integration related to its newly acquired infrastructure businesses; and (4) ability to secure sufficient leading-edge foundry capacity.

Take-Two Interactive gains on Deutsche Bank upgrade

Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:TTWO) shares rose more than 2% pre-market today after Deutsche Bank upgraded the company to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $175.00 from $155.00.

The analysts remarked that last Wednesday Take-Two announced in a post that Rockstar will unveil the first trailer for "the next Grand Theft Auto" title in early December. According to the analysts, this announcement is expected to positively influence investor sentiment and act as a catalyst for the stock. Looking forward to the latter half of 2024 and into 2025, the bank anticipates initial announcements of other major releases from Take-Two's extensive development pipeline, which includes 14 core immersive titles spanning 2025 and 2026.

The analysts also highlighted that Take-Two revised its multi-year guidance during its earnings report last week, now forecasting just under $8B in net bookings for fiscal 2025, slightly lower than the previous "over" $8B projection. However, management still expects growth in bookings and cash flow in the subsequent year.

“While this guidance update means that estimates for FY25 are coming down, it also demonstrates that, besides some relatively minor shifts in timing, the bulk of TakeTwo's pipeline remains on track vs 6 months ago, which is a positive sign that the development process is going well,” commented Deutsche Bank.

2 more upgrades

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) shares rose more than 1% pre-market today after Bernstein upgraded the company to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $40.00.

Baird upgraded Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $202.00 (from $194.00). As a result, shares gained more than 1% pre-market today.

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