Goldman Starts Advanced Micro Devices At Sell, Sees 20% Downside

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD shares are down more than 8 percent Thursday after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the stock at Sell.

Analyst Toshiya Hari says the stock’s current share price already reflects what Goldman sees as “very bullish” market conditions in 2018.

According to Hari, AMD is now “priced for perfection.” Hari says while AMD’s “execution (i.e. new product launches, cost management and [balance sheet] deleveraging) has improved under CEO Lisa Su, we believe current risk-return is unfavorable.

Related Link: Breaking Down AMD's Technical Levels

Hari expects rivals NVIDIA Corporation NVDA and Intel Corporation INTC to fight back if AMD gains any more ground in terms of pricing. Goldman expects analyst day on May could be a negative catalyst for AMD.

Goldman’s bearish outlook for AMD seems to be more about valuation than performance.

The company is modeling $4.87 billion in revenue for 2017, slightly above consensus estimates of $4.73 billion. However, Goldman’s expectations of $5.1 billion in revenue in 2018 is a bit short of consensus estimates of $5.20 billion.

AMD shares had exploded more than 400 percent in the past year, but Goldman now says there is more than 20 percent downside ahead for AMD in the long-term. Goldman set an $11 price target for the stock.

Image Credit: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) [Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons