No Qualcomm/Broadcom Deal? No Problem. Chip Index Hits New High

(Bloomberg) -- Semiconductor stocks are shrugging off President Donald Trump’s block of Broadcom’s proposed acquisition of Qualcomm, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rising as much as 1.3% to another all-time high.

Micron is the best performer in the index and is up 3.4% after Mizuho raised its price target to $66 from $55 on strong memory demand. RBC’s Amit Daryanani writes in a note that in the wake of the failed Qualcomm deal, Broadcom is likely to remain active in M&A and that memory and semiconductor capital equipment companies "could be interesting" potential targets, among others.

Intel is up 3.6%. It had been mulling a defensive bid for Broadcom because the combined company post the Qualcomm deal would have posed a serious competitive threat, according to a WSJ report.

Broadcom is up 2.8% as analysts expect the company to pursue smaller and less controversial acquisitions. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey’s William Stein writes in a note, "investors have been cautious on AVGO since it first pursued QCOM owing to an anticipated lengthy regulatory approval process. With that issue out of the way, we expect AVGO to extend Monday’s rally today.”

--With assistance from Beth Mellor

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Sweeney in New York at ssweeney39@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz

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