Cohu's shares climbed sharply in morning trading, rising 7.2% after TD Cowen raised its price target on the semiconductor test equipment maker to $80 from $60 and reaffirmed a Buy rating in a note published the prior session. The brokerage singled out Cohu's growing presence in the artificial intelligence high-performance computing (HPC) supply chain as the primary catalyst behind the upgrade.
TD Cowen highlighted two of Cohu's product lines by name - the Eclipse thermal handler systems and the Neon HBM inspection platform - as central to an expanding growth opportunity. In its note, the firm projected that Cohu would return to profitability in 2026 and that significant earnings leverage would materialize into 2027 and subsequent years.
The analyst action came against a backdrop of company-level indicators that have been moving in a positive direction. Cohu previously increased its 2026 HPC revenue guidance to a range of $80 million to $100 million and has set out a computing segment opportunity pipeline it estimates at approximately $750 million, covering both test handlers and HBM inspection work.
During the session the stock reached a fresh 52-week high of $69.63, reflecting the extent to which investor sentiment has shifted toward the AI-driven thesis for semiconductor equipment providers. That momentum in Cohu's share price occurred even as the broad market offered little support - both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq traded modestly lower during the same session.
Other companies in the semiconductor equipment space, including Advantest and Teradyne, are also positioned to benefit from structural demand tied to AI infrastructure spending. However, TD Cowen and other analysts have placed particular emphasis on Cohu's niche in thermal-precision handlers for next-generation AI accelerators, which has drawn outsized attention and helped elevate the stock's profile among investors.
A small insider share-sale notice filed the prior day was noted by market participants, but it did not appear to have a material impact on the stock's performance or on investor sentiment during the session.
Viewed together, TD Cowen's price target increase - a 33% upward revision - acted as the immediate trigger for the day's move, intensifying a bullish narrative already supported by the company's raised guidance, its growing HPC pipeline, and a string of earlier analyst upgrades. The convergence of a visible path back to profitability in 2026 and a sizable addressable market in AI compute testing appears to be persuading investors to reprice the shares toward the upper range of analyst expectations.