Analysts Back AMD Stock Amid Nvidia CEO Scandal

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) are up 1.6% before the bell, after the chipmaker landed an upgrade at William Blair to "outperform" from "market perform." The firm cited the Nvidia (NVDA) rival's improved risk/reward ratio, with the CEO Jensen Huang drama potentially shifting the growth outlook in AMD's favor.

BofA Global Research also dolled out a price-target hike to $700 from $650, adding to the slew of analyst support. Heading into today, 40 of the 47 brokerages covering AMD carry a "buy" or "strong buy" rating, with not a single "sell" in sight.

Should these gains hold, Advanced Micro Devices stock will be headed for a fifth-straight gain, extending last week's bounce of $400. AMD sports a 132% year-over-year gain and tapped a record high of $658.52 on Oct. 6.

The equity has tended to outperform options traders' volatility expectations over the past 12 months. This is per AMD's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 78 out 100.