Astera Labs Inc (NASDAQ:ALAB) shares are trading higher on Thursday after Loop Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $250 price target.
Loop Capital's Bullish Call Lifts Sentiment
Loop Capital analyst Ananda Baruah began coverage with a Buy rating and a $250 target, arguing that Astera Labs is uniquely positioned at the center of the AI‑infrastructure boom. Even though the stock is down 32% year‑to‑date, it remains up 66% over the past 12 months, and Baruah believes the pullback has created an attractive setup, CNBC reported.
Baruah described Astera as the company that most closely represents a diversified AI‑silicon pure play outside of Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), with exposure to what the analyst calls an AI "super cycle."
Positioned Across Every Major AI‑Silicon Architecture
Baruah's thesis hinges on Astera's role in solving some of the most critical bottlenecks inside AI servers and clusters. The company's connectivity and data‑movement solutions touch nearly every major AI‑silicon category — GPUs, Trainium, TPUs and other XPUs.
A central part of the bullish view is Astera's deep relationship with Amazon Web Services, its largest customer and the driver behind its Scorpio platform. Baruah believes AWS's internal usage targets for its Tranium 3 and Tranium 4 chips may be far stronger than the market currently expects.
What Other Analysts Have To Say
Analysts have recently been bullish on ALAB, with several initiating coverage with positive ratings and upward target revisions in the past few months. Citigroup maintained ‘Buy’ rating and a slightly lowered target of $250 on Feb. 11.
Earlier, in January, RBC Capital started their coverage on ALAB assigning an ‘Outperform’ rating and $225 target. In December, Northland Capital Markets maintained their ‘Outperform’ rating and increased the target from $175 to $195. BNP Paribas Exane also initiated coverage on ALAB in November with an ‘Outperform’ rating and a $225 target.
ALAB Price Action: Astera Labs shares were up 3.40% at $117.64 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.
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