Though Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) stock has been largely overshadowed by its vastly bigger competitor, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), in 2024, it has also been offering strong performance to investors this year.
The trend became particularly positive in the last 30 days, during which AMD shares surged 24.76% from $138.15 to their press time price of $172.35.
Such a rise means that by the morning of October 7, any investor who purchased $1,000 worth of AMD stock one month ago would have $1,247.56 – a $247.56 gain.
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The darker side of AMD stock rally
This rise, however, also demonstrates why the semiconductor maker has been relatively overlooked by traders, particularly compared to Nvidia, the biggest chipmaker in the world.
Indeed, $1,000 worth of AMD shares bought on January 2 – the first market day of 2024 – would have, by press time on Monday, become $1,243.68. A similarly timed NVDA purchase would have become $2,591.03.
The fact that investing in AMD would have yielded slightly better results than holding the stock since the start of 2024 also highlights just how much damage the chipmaker suffered in the early August and early September stock market bloodbaths.
Why ‘Advancing AI’ event does not guarantee an AMD stock October rally
Additionally, there remains a question if there will be a strong upside for AMD in the near future.
On the one hand, the ‘Advancing AI’ event has historically brought strong gains for the semiconductor company and is expected to provide investors with strong returns in 2024.
On the other hand, its impact might be somewhat more limited than many likely hope, as it is scheduled for October 10 – the same day as Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) ‘Robotaxi’ presentation.
Though the two companies operate in different industries and the overlap is not likely to be complete, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle (EV) maker will probably draw disproportionate attention from technology-focused outlets and investors, reducing the immediate impact of ‘Advancing AI.’
Why AMD stock may offer a strong finish to 2024
Still, AMD remains a major player in the industry and has been building positive relations with another important customer group for advanced processing units – gamers – with a string of free performance upgrades in recent months.
Additionally, though it may prove unfortunate that ‘Advancing AI’ will coincide with the ‘Robotaxi’ event, many analysts still believe it will reinvigorate AMD’s role as a major player in the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
The bullish outlook, even in the wake of a choppy 2024, is also exemplified by the overall analyst rating of Advanced Micro Devices stock, as revealed by the data Finbold retrieved from TradingView on October 7.
In fact, the semiconductor maker is overall considered a ‘strong buy,’ with 46 of the 55 represented experts considering it a savvy investment. Additionally, none of the analysts see selling AMD shares as the right call, and only 9 are ‘neutral.’
The positive outlook is also reflected in the overall 12-month price target, which predicts a 9.91% rise to $187.83, and the highest forecast, which expects a 46.28% upside to $250.
Still, despite the generally positive sentiment, some consider an 18.08% to $140 the most likely outcome of the upcoming 52 weeks of trading.
