Citigroup Joins In...AMD Sees Institutional Buying Spree Ahead of Earnings Announcement

▲ AMD(NASDAQ: AMD)/Source: X

AMD received concentrated buying from institutional investors ahead of its second-quarter earnings announcement. Benchmark set a target price of $685, indicating a potential 41% upside.

According to investment media Stocktwits on August 4 (local time), AMD's stock price rose 3% in after-hours trading ahead of the earnings announcement. Previously, it closed at $484.64 on Monday, up 2%. AMD began to rebound immediately after recording its worst monthly return since September 2022.

Citigroup was reported to hold 6.38 million shares of AMD as of June 30, with an estimated value of $3.71 billion. Citigroup increased its holdings by 272,161 shares, a 4.46% increase from its previous position. Jennison Associates bought 545,575 shares, expanding its holdings by 5.79%. The total additional shares purchased by the two institutions amounted to 817,736 shares. Their total holdings reached 16.35 million shares, valued at approximately $9.5 billion.

Benchmark maintained its "buy" rating on AMD and a target price of $685. The target price is 41% higher than the level at the time of writing. Benchmark expects AMD to deliver a clean quarterly performance that largely meets market expectations. The second-quarter revenue forecast is $11.28 billion, and the non-GAAP earnings per share forecast is $1.63. For the third quarter, it expects revenue of $12.49 billion and earnings per share of $1.87.

Market intelligence firm Koyfin predicted AMD's revenue would increase by 10% from the previous quarter to $11.31 billion. It estimated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to increase by 29% to $2.88 billion, and adjusted earnings per share to rise by 18% to $1.61. Investors' attention is focused on the third-quarter earnings outlook, gross profit margin, and the shipment schedule for the AI system Helios.

AMD CEO Lisa Su emphasized that customer demand for Helios is "extremely strong" and called it "the world's best AI rack." AMD has begun production of Helios and plans to start shipments by the end of the third quarter, expanding supply in the fourth quarter. OpenAI plans to deploy Helios at scale starting in late 2026 and accelerate adoption in 2027. AMD also signed an agreement with Core Scientific to secure up to 2.5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity. Initial supply will begin with over 500 megawatts in 2027. AMD's stock price has risen 182% over the past year, and the number of 24-hour posts on Stocktwits has surged by 254%.

[Key Article Summary]

-Citigroup and Jennison additionally purchased 817,736 shares of AMD stock.

-Benchmark maintained AMD's target price at $685, suggesting a 41% upside.

-AMD plans to start shipping Helios by the end of the third quarter and expand supply in the fourth quarter.

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