NEW YORK, March 3, 2026, 11:02 ET — Regular session
- Broadcom dropped roughly 3% as chip stocks lost ground, with traders looking ahead to the company’s March 4 earnings.
- RBC Capital trimmed its price target to $340 but stuck with a “Sector Perform” rating, pointing to valuation and uncertainty around long-term AI demand.
- Wall Street kept its distance from risk, with energy prices climbing on Middle East tensions and inflation worries resurfacing.
Broadcom Inc. shares dropped roughly 3% late Tuesday morning, following a price target cut from RBC Capital Markets just before the chipmaker’s quarterly results due out this week.
Broadcom is at the heart of AI infrastructure, supplying custom chips and networking hardware that feed off hefty data-center spending. That’s why the stock’s slide stands out. Growth expectations remain high, so Wednesday’s outlook has traders on edge.
The broader market offered little relief. U.S. stocks dropped over 2% after tensions in the Middle East escalated, sending oil and shipping prices up and stoking fresh inflation concerns. “Investors worry about additional inflation coming down the road,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. 1
RBC Capital’s Srini Pajjuri trimmed his price target on Broadcom, now seeing shares at $340 instead of $370, sticking with a “Sector Perform” call. “We expect a beat/raise driven by strong TPU/Networking demand,” he wrote, citing demand for tensor processing units and network hardware. While RBC pointed to some uncertainty around Anthropic-related demand after the first half of fiscal 2027, the firm said it’s not losing sleep over MediaTek as a competitor. 2
Analysts set price targets to signal where they think a stock might land within a year. On Wall Street, “Sector Perform” is the standard lingo for a neutral stance: it’s neither a buy nor a sell.
Broadcom will release its fiscal first-quarter 2026 numbers after Wednesday’s closing bell on March 4, with management set to discuss results during a 5:00 p.m. ET call. 3
The stock slipped as chipmakers absorbed sharper losses than the broader market. The iShares Semiconductor ETF slid more than 5%. Nvidia and AMD dropped as well, while the S&P 500 ETF reflected a roughly 2% decline.
Broadcom’s portfolio spans data-center switching silicon and custom chips for big AI clusters. On the software side, there’s VMware—now a crucial pillar for investors tracking consistent cash flow.
Wednesday brings a focus on whether the company shifts its language on AI-linked orders or backlog—the pipeline of booked work still to ship. Attention will also be on networking: does it hold up as customers work through previous spending?
The risk is clear enough: should Broadcom’s guidance disappoint, or if management signals a slowdown from major AI clients, the shares could slide further—especially with markets already edgy over inflation and risk.
Broadcom reports after the bell on March 4, with its conference call slated for 5 p.m. ET.
