20 Trending AI Stocks on Latest Analyst Ratings and News

16. QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78 

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) develops and sells foundational technologies for the wireless industry. Stifel analyst Ruben Roy recently chimed in on the rumors about QUALCOMM acquiring chipmaker Intel, noting that such a development appeared unlikely. The analyst said the mega deal appeared similar to other such deals tried in the past that could not clear regulatory hurdles, giving examples of the NVIDIA bid to purchase Arm and the Broadcom proposal to purchase QUALCOMM, both of which collapsed before gaining significant traction. Bank of America analysts also echo these comments. In a recent investor note, they claimed that such an acquisition would allow QUALCOMM to diversify into more semiconductor markets and bring in strategic enterprise clients, but would also create the largest semiconductor company on the planet with Qualcomm’s $33 billion in revenue combined with Intel’s $52 billion.

Led by Vivek Arya, the analysts underlined that both QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Intel were extremely reliant on China sales, and Chinese authorities took years to consider even medium-sized transactions, so the scale/CPU dominance worked against the potential QCOM/INTC combination. China serves as Intel’s largest market, accounting for 26% of its revenue in 2023. Meanwhile, approximately 60% of Qualcomm’s revenue in 2023 came from China and Hong Kong.