Teradyne Spikes On Oppenheimer Upgrade

Teradyne (TER) shares traded sharply higher today after Oppenheimer analyst Gary Hsueh boosted his rating on the semiconductor test equipment provider to Outperform from Perform. He set a price target of $13, well above yesterday’s close at $8.27.

Hsueh writes that the upgrade is based on “general tightness in semi test,” as well as a key win at Qualcomm (QCOM), and an expected pick up in orders from Broadcom (BRCM). With the Qualcomm win, he writes, the company “delivers a gut-punch” to rival Verigy (VRGY), walking away with an order worth $30 million to $40 million near term and a long-term gain of about 5 percentage points of market share.

“Combined with unprecedented cost-cutting, TER is now ripped, with big muscles underpinning mid-cycle EPS of $1 in 2010,” he writes.

TER today is up 93 cents, or 11.3%, to $9.20.