Is QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) A Good Hardware Stock To Buy According To Goldman Sachs?

We recently compiled the list of the 15 Best Hardware Stocks According To Goldman Sachs using the latest sentiment data. In this article, we are going to take a look at where QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) stands against the other hardware stocks.

The soaring popularity of artificial intelligence for consumer and business applications has injected fresh life into the computing industry. If we're to rewind the hands of time and go back to 2022, the stock market environment was considerably different from what it is now. All major technology stocks, including those that are responsible for making chips that power AI workloads were down by double digit percentages in the wake of breakneck inflation and rising interest rates.

Fast forward to 2024 and the rise in valuations seems to have no end in sight. One bank that's quite optimistic about artificial intelligence is Goldman. Goldman's analyst teams are among the best in the world, and they spend countless hours analyzing stocks and industries for the right set of picks that could disrupt the industry.

On this front, Goldman came out with a note recently that outlined a new beginning for the computer hardware industry. According to the bank, the introduction of AI has necessitated a global shift to new hardware that can support the technology. In its note, the bank's analysts shared:

During the pandemic, the tech hardware industry peaked as the majority of work-from-home employees purchased equipment. The space currently has fully unwind this cycle and we notice stocks like HPQ trading at 9x their 2025 earnings estimates.

Most PCs purchased during the pandemic are expected to be replaced soon. We expect discernable new features of AI, enhanced security, and stronger computational power in upcoming PC and mobile device models, incentivizing the US consumer to spend more on newer equipment than historically, creating an unusually stronger cycle.

Goldman also created a basket of stocks where the highest weighted stock has an 8% weight and there are 20 stocks in the basket. According to Goldman analyst Faris Mourad:

The basket is composed of technology hardware stocks that may benefit from PC and mobile device renovations that could include AI features. The basket can trade up to $250m in one day with no name exceeding 10% of ADV.

Considering this optimism, we decided to take a look at the top Goldman's top 15 hardware stock picks.

Our Methodology

To make our list of the top Goldman Sachs hardware stocks, we used the top holdings of the bank's PC & Mobile Device AI Upgrades basket (GSXUPCAI).

For these hardware stocks, we also mentioned hedge fund investors. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

7. QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders In Q1 2024: 78

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) is a key player in the smartphone industry because of its CPUs, GPUs, neural processors, and other chips. This also makes it a key AI stock as QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)'s Arm based products are also being used in consumer notebooks. AI and QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) were also at the heart of a May 2024 analyst note by BofA that saw the bank raise the share price target to $245 from $180 and stick to a Buy rating. BofA believes that QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) could secure as much as a 70% market share of the AI PC market, and also benefit from a recovery in the Chinese market and on device AI processing for smartphones.

However, even though it might benefit from future AI trends, QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)'s stability that enables it to regularly ship thousands of products worldwide and earn licensing revenue is also reflected in a 18.40 forward P/E ratio. This is lower than the market's 21, and shows muted investor growth expectations. Madison Investments mentioned QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) in its fourth quarter of 2023 investor letter where it shared:

Qualcomm also reported a solid fourth fiscal quarter with better than expected results. The company guided the first quarter ahead of expectations despite headwinds from Samsung as the inventory headwinds dissipate. Qualcomm remains well positioned in the mobile handset market and should benefit as Artificial Intelligence moves to edge devices which could drive an upgrade cycle.

Overall, QCOM ranks 7th among the 15 best hardware stocks to buy according to famed investment bank. You can visit the 15 Best Hardware Stocks According To Goldman to see the other hardware stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of QCOM as an AI investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CDW but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

 

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Disclosure: None. The article was originally published at Insider Monkey.