Broadcom (AVGO) investors should have known it was going to be a Black Thursday when sharp-tongued CEO Hock Tan started his earnings call by reading last year’s numbers off a piece of paper.
“Well, in Q2, revenue was a record $15 billion as we grew 79% year-on-year. Driving this growth was AI semiconductor revenue at a record $10.8 billion, up 143% — well, let me restart, guys,” Tan said to begin the call on Wednesday afternoon. “Thank you, Ji. Thank you, everyone, for joining today. In our fiscal Q2 2026, total revenue reached a record $22.2 billion, up 48% year-on-year, above our guidance on strength in AI semiconductors.”
Oops! The artificial intelligence stock, which had run up close to 40% year to date ahead of the results, had the same vibe.
The analysis: Broadcom faced high expectations for its earnings after strong upside surprises from other AI plays in recent weeks, like Dell (DELL), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Cisco (CSCO), and Snowflake (SNOW).
The company had a mixed report compared to the Street’s jacked-up estimates, however.
Broadcom reported revenue of $22.19 billion, modestly exceeding the consensus estimate of $22.13 billion. But it fell short of whisper numbers on Wall Street. Earnings per share came in at $2.44, topping estimates of $2.39.
Semiconductor revenue from artificial intelligence in the second quarter grew 143% year over year. However, AI chip sales for the third quarter were projected at $16 billion, below analysts’ estimates of $17.2 billion, Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré reports.
“Not as good as we hoped, but thesis unchanged,” HSBC analyst Frank Lee wrote in a note.
Shares of Broadcom fell 15% in premarket trading, on track to wipe out about $300 billion in market cap. If this holds into the Thursday close, it will mark one of the worst routs in market cap for a company in history, per data from the FT.
AlphaSpace intel: Broadcom had no room for its error in its earnings or guidance from a valuation perspective. Data from Yahoo Finance AlphaSpace shows Broadcom trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 43 times, almost twice the multiple of the S&P 500.
The bottom line: We wish Tan a better start on the next earnings call three months from now. Unclear if his stock price will be back to where it was before his late Wednesday fumble.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance’s editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
