Samsung secures Nvidia HBM3E qualification as Micron faces HBM4 hurdles

This article summarizes the most significant insider buys and sells reported for US stocks on Thursday, September 18, 2025.

Top Insider Buys:

NextDecade Corp (NASDAQ:NEXT):

Bardin Hill Investment Partners LP and affiliated entities purchased 357,021 shares of NextDecade Corp common stock at an average price of $6.9825, totaling $2.49 million. The purchase comes as NextDecade’s stock has fallen nearly 16% in the past week. The company, currently valued at $1.69 billion, maintains a WEAK financial health score according to InvestingPro analysis, operating with a significant debt burden and rapidly depleting cash reserves.

WESBANCO INC (NASDAQ:WSBC):

Multiple directors of WESBANCO INC made significant purchases of depositary shares. Director Proctor Gregory S JR acquired 2,000 shares at $25.00 each, totaling $50,000. Director Knox D Bruce purchased 8,000 shares at $25.00, amounting to $200,000. Director James W. Cornelsen bought 10,000 shares at $25.00, totaling $250,000. These purchases come as WesBanco trades near its Fair Value according to InvestingPro analysis. The company has maintained dividend payments for 49 consecutive years with a current yield of 4.75%.

Texas Pacific Land Corp (NYSE:TPL):

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC, a ten-percent owner of Texas Pacific Land Corp, purchased 1 share of the company’s common stock at $928.60. While the transaction size is small, it’s noteworthy given the company’s impressive financial metrics, including an industry-leading 94.5% gross profit margin and a "GREAT" overall financial health score according to InvestingPro data.

Top Insider Sells:

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO):

Mark David Brazeal, Chief Legal & Corp Affairs Officer of Broadcom Inc., sold 26,365 shares of common stock for approximately $9.5 million. The sales occurred at prices ranging from $343.133 to $365.15 per share and were executed to cover withholding taxes due upon the vesting of restricted stock units.

Coreweave, Inc. (06 Technology:CRWV):

Chief Financial Officer Nitin Agrawal sold 38,002 shares of Class A Common Stock, fetching prices between $116.0188 and $125.31, resulting in a total transaction value of $4,540,528. Chief Development Officer Brannin McBee sold 444,821 shares for a total of $73,856,428 at prices ranging from $115.9821 to $125.58.

Rocket Lab Corp (NASDAQ:RKLB):

Multiple executives at Rocket Lab Corp sold shares. SVP, General Counsel Kampani Arjun sold 35,511 shares for approximately $1.97 million. Chief Financial Officer Adam C. Spice sold 67,754 shares for a total of $3.34 million. These sales were executed to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting and settlement of restricted stock units.

Investors should stay tuned to insider buys and sells as they can provide valuable insights into a company’s internal perspective. While not always indicative of future performance, these transactions can offer clues about management’s confidence in the company’s prospects or potential concerns. However, it’s crucial to consider these moves as part of a broader investment analysis rather than standalone indicators.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Goldman Sachs raised its price target on Baidu to $154 from $90 in a note on Friday, while maintaining a Buy rating on the stock, citing growing confidence in the company’s non-search businesses.

“We believe the decline trajectory of Baidu’s search business is well understood by the market and reflected in street earnings estimates,” Goldman Sachs analyst Lincoln Kong wrote. 

The bank expects third-quarter 2025 to show the steepest pressure, with “a 70% yoy core OP decline” from advertising deleveraging.

However, Goldman Sachs noted that investor sentiment has shifted. “With a 40% increase in market cap since our Asia Leaders Conference on Sep 3-4, we believe the market is now reassessing the SOTP potential for Baidu,” Kong said. 

The firm highlighted growth accelerants from artificial intelligence, projecting that non-search revenue will make up 54% of Baidu’s core revenue by 2027, with cloud accounting for 36%.

According to Goldman Sachs, Baidu Cloud’s “core competency lies in its full stack capabilities from chips, platforms to AI empowered software applications.” 

The analysts raised their valuation multiple to 5x price-to-sales to “reflect the growth potential and to align with the peer group.”

The bank also turned more constructive on Baidu’s Apollo Robotaxi business, citing “faster fleet rollout, higher industry TAM, and better profitability of the lower BOM cost RT6 car, as well as its international expansion potential.”

Goldman Sachs added that Baidu’s “proactive measures/views on enhancing shareholder buybacks and dividends” further support its sum-of-the-parts valuation.

Investing.com -- The memory sector is experiencing significant shifts as NVIDIA’s updated specifications for High Bandwidth Memory 4 (HBM4) create both winners and losers among major players, according to Bernstein analysts.

Samsung Electronics emerges as the primary beneficiary of NVIDIA’s decision to raise HBM4 speed requirements. The South Korean tech giant’s strategic use of 4nm for base die and 1cnm for DRAM die, initially considered over-specification, now provides crucial headroom to meet these higher standards.

Bernstein has raised Samsung’s target price to KRW95000. Some investors might worry about Samsung adding excessive HBM capacity, but the brokerage sees Samsung will gain market share through next year.

Analysts believe the supply additions, particularly considering the yield learning process of 1cnm technology, won’t offset the benefits of projected 53% growth in HBM bit demand during the same period.

Samsung’s valuation remains attractive, with its multiple only returning to historical average levels.

In a recent development, Samsung Electronics has reportedly passed Nvidia’s qualification test for its 12-layer HBM3E product, a key step in supplying the high-demand chips.

Micron Technology faces challenges from NVIDIA’s increased HBM4 speed requirements. Bernstein maintains an Outperform rating while raising Micron’s target price to $170.

But it cautions that the company may struggle to deliver the 10-11 Gbps speeds that NVIDIA now demands. This limitation stems from the inferior planar process of Micron’s base die.

While Bernstein sees limited near-term headroom for Micron, they remain structurally positive on the company’s long-term prospects.

Micron Technology has seen positive sentiment from analysts, with firms including Wedbush and Susquehanna raising their price targets based on a strong outlook for the memory cycle and HBM demand.

KIOXIA’s, which is a NAND supplier, appears less promising despite projections of rapidly increasing book value.

Bernstein reiterates an Underperform rating, noting that KIOXIA’s recent stock rally has already priced in the forecasted 80% increase in book value over the next 12 months.

This valuation implies a 1.4x forward P/B ratio, approaching the top end of KIOXIA’s historical range, which analysts believe fails to account for structural concerns and a likely market downturn approximately one year from now.

SK hynix maintains an Outperform rating with a KRW400,000 target price from Bernstein. However, analysts observe that multiples are approaching peak levels for the company.

While short-term momentum may continue to drive the stock upward, Bernstein believes further upside potential is becoming limited until new catalysts emerge.

SK hynix received positive outlook revisions from rating agencies S&P, Fitch, and Moody’s, which pointed to the company’s strengthening financial profile and leadership in the HBM market.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) stock declined 3.5% Friday after hitting an all-time high Thursday, as reports emerged that Samsung is gaining an edge in the race to meet Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) demanding specifications for next-generation HBM4 memory.

According to reports in Korea Economic Daily and Digitimes, Nvidia has requested suppliers to achieve HBM4 data transfer speeds exceeding 10 gigabits per second, significantly higher than the current industry standard of 8 Gbps. Samsung has reportedly demonstrated 11 Gbps speeds, outpacing SK Hynix’s 10 Gbps, while Micron is struggling to meet these requirements.

Samsung plans to ship large volumes of HBM4 samples to Nvidia this month in an effort to secure early qualification, potentially giving the Korean tech giant a competitive advantage in supplying memory for Nvidia’s future AI chips.

Despite these concerns, Wall Street analysts remain bullish on Micron. TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar raised his price target on the stock to $180 from $150 while maintaining a Buy rating.

"We think MU stock will continue its outperformance in the short term as checks continue to support that momentum. Typically, this part of the cycle puts more emphasis on ASP trends as we do not expect much multiple expansion from here, but rather continued growth in book value. We see potential for ~15% beat on the Nov Q EPS guide (Vs St). Main question is whether HBM pricing is locked for C26," Sankar noted.

Similarly, Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley raised his price target to $175 from $140 while maintaining an Overweight rating on Micron shares.

Shares traded at $163 pre-market, after closing yesterday at $168.89.

Investing.com -- Intel’s newly announced collaboration with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is weighing on AMD(NASDAQ:AMD) shares, but Bank of America (BofA) argues that the competitive dynamic may not be as negative as it first appears.

BofA raised its price objective on Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) to $34 from $25, citing the potential for modest product benefits from the collaboration, while reiterating a Neutral rating.

The bank’s analysts suggest that Intel’s expanded commitments could end up being a relative positive for AMD in the near and medium term.

The partnership between Intel and Nvidia, which covers new product development, has naturally sparked investor concerns given the historic zero-sum nature of Intel and AMD’s rivalry.

Yet, analysts led by Vivek Arya note that “greater chance of success for x86, especially in enterprise, benefits AMD also, not just Intel,” even if some of AMD’s edge in cloud may be blunted if Nvidia accelerates collaboration with Intel’s server CPUs.

x86 is a widely used processor architecture, created by Intel and shared with AMD, that powers most PCs and servers.

Another key point is timing. Chip collaborations typically take years before reaching the market, and BofA stresses that Intel’s competitive needs are more immediate. That gap gives AMD space to maintain momentum without an immediate headwind.

The analysts also flag the risk that Intel could become distracted by managing multiple stakeholders—SoftBank, Nvidia, and the U.S. government—which could dilute its focus and execution capacity.

Moreover, Intel’s reliance on Nvidia for graphics technology signals that its own desktop CPU graphics fix remains incomplete. That leaves AMD better positioned in that segment in the near term.

BofA maintains a Buy rating on AMD with a $200 price objective, based on 33 times 2026 expected non-GAAP EPS, near the high end of its historical valuation range.

The price target is “justified by AI growth and CPU share gains offset by slower growth in cyclical embedded/console markets,” BofA said.