Qualcomm Could Be the Biggest AI Bargain of the Year

What an awful past year it’s been for those patient shareholders in Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM | QCOM Price Prediction). The semiconductor stocks have been on a massive multi-year surge, yet here Qualcomm is not only not participating in the big gains enjoyed by just about every other semi firm, but sinking to multi-year depths. Of course, Qualcomm could catch a break, especially as the AI sell-off looks to get worse before it gets any better. That said, there is a fairly strong case for the market being wrong with the name.

Undoubtedly, several analysts share the viewpoint that the name is misunderstood and cheap at these depths. Qualcomm’s own management team may even see value at around $131 and change per share, with the recent green light to go ahead with a $20 billion share repurchase program. The dividend hike was also a big vote of confidence at a time when many investors seem to have none.

Either way, I think Qualcomm is starting to get oversold enough to at least start thinking about going bottom-fishing. Of course, the stock might not seem all too cheap on the surface, with shares trading at just north of 26.0 times trailing price-to-earnings (P/E). But if you’re a big believer in the edge AI and robotics revolution, I think the current entry point is quite compelling, even if you’ve already had your fair share of semi exposure.

Qualcomm is one of the lone semi plays that’s not working. Can it make up for lost time?

Sure, it feels better to be in a chip stock that’s actually working in this climate. But for investors who are willing to wait for the tides to shift, I do see Qualcomm as having the potential to be a relative bargain despite troubling analyst downgrades hitting the stock over the in-house modem transition of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), one of its biggest clients.

In many ways, it seems like the Bank of America downgrade acted as salt in the wounds of an already hard-hit firm. The stock surely felt the “underperform” rating alongside the new $145.00 per-share price target. While the target still entails a gain from here, the client concentration risk seems to be off-putting. Add uncertainties about memory supply issues into the equation, and you can’t blame analysts for turning their backs on the stock.

In any case, Qualcomm looks well-equipped to move ahead on its own footing. Notably, the company is shifting gears from smartphones toward self-driving (as demonstrated by the recent collab with autonomous driving software firm Wayve) as well as robotics.

Qualcomm has the right roadmap down as physical AI looks to lift off

With a compelling robotics roadmap and a robotics platform that could help push forward the future of robotics innovations, I certainly wouldn’t want to bet against the fallen firm. Qualcomm’s top boss, CEO Cristiano Amon, said that robots are a “larger” opportunity, and not in the distant future, in as little as two years or so. That’s a big statement, and one I think the market has no reason to doubt.

Either way, the company’s Dragonwing, which had its moment at CES 2026 earlier this year, may very well be the underrated innovation that helps put Qualcomm stock back on the map as it undergoes a bit of a turbulent transition period. Of course, it’s hard to know what to make of the physical AI chips at this juncture. When the physical AI tide begins to lift, though, I think it’ll be tougher to count Qualcomm out of the game, especially while shares are going for cheap.

While bears are weighing more heavily on the shares these days, let’s not forget about the bulls, like Wells Fargo, which upgraded the stock last month to go with a $15.00 price target hike to $150.00. Notably, Wells likes the new data center trajectory. Whether it’s the data center strategy or the physical AI chips, I think it’s time to look into the future rather than to the past when valuing the fallen former chip darling.