<div id="readability-page-1">Investing.com - Here are the biggest analyst moves in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) for this week. [[pro_promotion | Explore stocks that analysts see as top AI picks on InvestingPro ]] KeyBanc flags &#34;stretched&#34; Apple valuation KeyBanc Capital Markets has flagged growing concerns over Apple’s valuation, warning that proprietary spending data points to &#34;initial cracks in the bulls’ multi-year compounding growth view&#34; as U.S. hardware demand reverts toward normal seasonality. Analyst Brandon Nispel maintained a Sector Weight rating on the stock, citing field-level data showing indexed spending fell 16% month-over-month in April, below the three-year average decline of 12%, while year-over-year growth decelerated sharply to negative 6% from positive 10% in March. KeyBanc sees this as a challenge for Apple bulls, as future growth increasingly needs to come from international markets — particularly China and Asia-Pacific — where the firm acknowledges it has less data visibility. On the near term, KeyBanc is modeling fiscal third-quarter hardware revenue growth of 18.2% year-over-year, above the 15.4% consensus, with iPhone at 24.6% versus consensus of 19.4%. Despite these above-consensus estimates, Nispel said he is &#34;struggling to find a case that warrants AAPL’s valuation,&#34; which relies on an aggressive multi-year growth rate and a premium multiple. Additional concerns include Apple’s historical business cyclicality, U.S. carrier messaging pointing to fewer device subsidies, and recent Verizon commentary indicating upgrade rates have begun to moderate. With Apple trading at approximately 23 times fiscal 2027 EV/EBITDA and 32 times earnings, KeyBanc said the stock looks generally overvalued relative to its historical discount to the Nasdaq and other large-cap technology peers. BofA reiterates Buy on TSMC, says competitive fears are overblown Bank of America (BofA) has reiterated its Buy rating on TSMC following the chipmaker’s technology symposium in Taiwan, maintaining a price target of NT$2,560 and arguing that &#34;recent concerns are overdone&#34; as TSMC’s scale and technological lead continue to widen. On 3nm and 5nm nodes, TSMC is targeting 25% compound annual capacity growth from 2022 to 2027, with 3nm capacity expected to reach 190,000 wafers per month by Q4 2026, rising to 230,000 by 2027. BofA contrasted this with Samsung’s SF3 and Intel’s 18A processes, which it estimates at just 20,000 to 25,000 wafers per month at low yields prioritized for internal use — significantly limiting the risk that Apple shifts its M-series chipsets away from TSMC. At the next-generation N2 node, TSMC is targeting 70% compound annual capacity growth from 2026 to 2028, rolling out five fabrication facilities simultaneously while cutting technology transfer times by 20%. Notably, N2 reached targeted defect density levels two quarters ahead of the schedule set during the 3nm ramp. On advanced packaging, TSMC is growing CoWoS and SoIC capacity at 80% and 90% compound annual rates respectively through 2027. BofA highlighted that TSMC’s CoWoS yield is already above 98%, compared to Intel’s competing EMIB-T process, which remains at 80% to 85% pilot yield, creating execution risk for the U.S. chipmaker if it fails to reach 95% mass production yield by mid-2027. KB Securities hikes SK Hynix, Samsung targets on AI-driven memory shortage KB Securities has raised price targets on SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, citing a structural supply shortage driven by surging AI infrastructure investment. The brokerage lifted its SK Hynix target to 3,000,000 from 2,800,000 won, maintaining a Buy rating, and upgraded Samsung to Buy with a new target of 450,000 won. &#34;For hyperscalers, AI investment is no longer a capex race; it is a race for AI infrastructure leadership, which could reshape the global economy, redefine industry leadership, and determine platform dominance,&#34; analyst Jeff Kim wrote, adding that investment will continue &#34;until sufficient memory capacity and data center infrastructure are secured.&#34; Kim sees AI token usage at major cloud platforms rising roughly three times over the next six months and seven times year-on-year, making memory capacity &#34;increasingly urgent&#34; for hyperscalers. AI data center operators already absorb around 70% of total memory shipments, with demand set to broaden further as agentic AI expands into on-device and physical AI applications. On supply, he warned that new memory production lines are not scheduled for mass production until after 2027. &#34;The industry appears to be entering a de facto zero-supply era,&#34; he wrote. KB projects SK Hynix’s 2026 DRAM and NAND ASPs surging 194% and 244% year-on-year respectively, with Samsung facing similarly sharp moves at 297% and 256%. For SK Hynix, KB forecasts 2026 operating profit of 277 trillion won — which it says would rank the company fourth globally — at an operating margin of 78.1%, the highest in the world. Second-quarter operating profit is seen jumping more than eight times year-on-year to 70 trillion won. Kim also noted that SK Hynix’s shift toward long-term supply contracts through 2028–2030 &#34;increasingly resemble a foundry-like model of advance orders followed by production, reducing earnings volatility and improving earnings visibility — a key re-rating driver.&#34; Also supporting the outlook is a sharp acceleration in hyperscaler capex. KB estimates combined spending from four major U.S. cloud operators — including Alphabet and Amazon — will reach $725 billion in 2026, up 77% year-on-year, before crossing $1 trillion in 2027. &#34;For big tech, AI capex is no longer a cost, but a survival barrier,&#34; Kim wrote. Daiwa downgrades AMD on valuation after near-150% share price surge This week, Daiwa Capital Markets has downgraded AMD to Outperform from Buy, citing the stock’s near-150% gain over the past 60 days, even as it raised its price target to $500 from $250 following a strong first-quarter earnings beat. Analyst Louis Miscioscia called AMD’s first-quarter 2026 results &#34;very good,&#34; with revenue of $10.3 billion rising 38% year-over-year and beating the Street estimate of $9.9 billion by $361 million. Gross margins of 55.4% edged above guidance, while second-quarter revenue guidance of $11.2 billion came in $682 million ahead of consensus, implying 46% year-over-year growth. AMD also upgraded its long-term outlook, doubling its 2030 estimate for the x86 total addressable market to more than $120 billion and raising its compound annual growth rate projection to 35% from 18%. Management expects to exceed $20 in earnings per share over the next three to five years. Despite the bullish operational picture, the downgrade reflects valuation rather than any change in Daiwa’s positive view on AMD’s growth trajectory. &#34;Given the appreciation of almost 150% over the past 60 days, near term it could moderate,&#34; Miscioscia wrote. Daiwa raised its 2026 revenue and EPS estimates to $49 billion and $7.25, respectively, and its 2027 estimates to $72.7 billion and $12.85. HSBC upgrades Cisco to Buy as AI infrastructure demand resets growth profile In another upgrade, HSBC has raised Cisco to Buy and lifted its price target to $137 from $77, arguing that surging AI infrastructure demand has fundamentally reset the networking giant’s growth outlook. The bank pointed to a clear structural shift in Cisco’s latest results. AI infrastructure orders reached $1.9 billion in the quarter, up from $600 million a year earlier, lifting the year-to-date total to $5.3 billion. Management raised its fiscal 2026 AI infrastructure orders target to approximately $9 billion from $5 billion and lifted full-year AI revenue guidance to approximately $4 billion from $3 billion. For fiscal 2027, management guided for AI revenue of at least $6 billion, implying roughly 50% year-over-year growth and total company revenue growth of around 9%. HSBC attributed the outperformance to Cisco’s Silicon One chips and Acacia optics, backed by multiple hyperscaler design wins. Total revenue grew 12% year-over-year to $15.84 billion, approximately 2% above consensus, while adjusted EPS of $1.06 beat estimates by 2.5%. The bank said it now believes &#34;AI revenue is having a larger financial impact than we had expected,&#34; identifying three structural growth drivers: hyperscaler AI buildouts, enterprise AI networking upgrades, and campus modernization driven by rising traffic and security demands. HSBC raised its fiscal 2026 to 2029 non-GAAP EPS compound annual growth rate estimate to 13.6% from 9.8%, applying a higher 29x price-to-earnings multiple to reflect Cisco’s transition from a &#34;low-growth networking company to a structural AI infrastructure thesis.&#34;</div>

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Analysts have made significant moves in AI-related stocks this week. KeyBanc raised concerns over Apple's valuation, maintaining a Sector Weight rating amid declining hardware demand. BofA reiterated a Buy on TSMC, citing its technological lead. KB Securities raised price targets for SK Hynix and Samsung due to an AI-driven memory shortage, projecting substantial increases in memory prices and operating profits for both companies by 2026.

- KeyBanc Capital Markets expressed concerns over Apple's valuation, noting a 16% drop in indexed spending month-over-month in April, signaling potential challenges for future growth.  
- Bank of America reaffirmed a Buy rating on TSMC, highlighting the company's significant capacity growth targets despite competitive fears, while KB Securities raised price targets for SK Hynix and Samsung due to increased AI-driven demand for memory.  
- Daiwa downgraded AMD to Outperform after a 150% rise in share price, citing valuation concerns, while HSBC upgraded Cisco to Buy as AI infrastructure demand has positively influenced its growth outlook.

5 big analyst AI moves: PT hikes for Samsung and SK Hynix, AMD downgraded