UPDATE: Oppenheimer Upgrades Cavium on Multiple Growth Irons in the Fire

In a report published Thursday, Oppenheimer analyst Rick Schafer upgraded the rating on

from Perform to Outperform, and named a $48.00 price target. In the report, Oppenheimer noted, “We are raising estimates and upgrading the shares of CAVM from Perform to Outperform after the company posted 3Q sales/EPS of $79.1M/$0.29, besting consensus $78.8M/$0.26E. More important, EPS guidance of $0.30 for 4Q should assuage investor fears of slowdown reported recently by some peers. CAVM boasts one of the best top-line growth stories in the semiconductor group, driven by ramping design wins in wireless/wireline infrastructure, datacenter and enterprise. Gross margins rose 20bp in 3Q and are expected up an additional 50bp in 4Q as mix steadily improves. CAVM has multiple growth irons in the fire, and we believe in mgmt's ability to execute. We initiate a price target of $48.” Cavium closed on Wednesday at $36.99.