Key Points
One was from an always-influential investment bank.
His move was part of a broader take on auto and related industrial tech stocks.
Electric components maker Amphenol (NYSE: APH) received a nice jolt from investors on Tuesday, as they bought into the stock, sending it to a market-beating gain that trading session. On the back of not one but two analyst price target raises, Amphenol's shares closed the day nearly 1.6% higher, more than enough to beat the S&P 500 index's 0.6% rise.
Supplying the most ambitious customers
The first of the two was made by Goldman Sachs prognosticator Mark Delaney. He raised his fair value assessment on Amphenol to $116 per share from $102. This was followed by Baird's Luke Junk, who now feels the stock is worth $105 per share, up from $95. Both analysts maintained their equivalent of a buy recommendation on the company.
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According to reports, Delaney's increase came as part of a broader research note on stocks in the U.S. auto and industrial technology realm. In his view, companies like Amphenol will continue to benefit from supplying components needed for the build-out of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
This is currently a hot trend in the tech industry, as many companies involved in the sector are in something of a race to increase AI compute as quickly and powerfully as possible.
Full speed ahead... hopefully
And despite sporadic fears that AI development might be progressing a bit too quickly, it shows few signs of abating, at least not yet; no one wants to squander a potentially huge competitive advantage, after all. I think these bullish assessments of Amphenol's future are spot-on, although we should keep a wary eye on signs of a genuine slowdown or pauses in AI build-outs.
Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amphenol and Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.