So, Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) is back in the spotlight. Wall Street is doing its usual thing—recalibrating, reassessing, trying to figure out if the stock has more room to run. The story here is a classic tug-of-war: on one side, you've got the high-flying AI division that everyone loves; on the other, a software business that's cooling off a bit. But despite that tension, the big institutional players are still leaning pretty positive.

The Bull Case from UBS

Take UBS. They recently came out and said, yep, we're still buying this. They reaffirmed their Buy rating and stuck with their $475 price forecast. Now, they did acknowledge the obvious: the broader software sector has seen its multiples compress, and that's been a bit of a drag on Broadcom's stock. But their view is that Broadcom's semiconductor business deserves its premium valuation because the growth there looks durable.

There is a catch, though. UBS pointed to the VMware integration as a key area to watch. They warned that VMware customer churn could pick up in 2026 and 2027 as those three-year contracts start renewing. So that's a potential medium-term speed bump for the enterprise software segment. It's not a deal-breaker for the bulls, but it's something to keep an eye on.

The AI Engine Keeps Humming

While the software side has some questions, the AI narrative just keeps getting stronger. Bank of America Securities analyst Vivek Arya recently upgraded his 2030 total addressable market estimate for AI data-center systems to $1.4 trillion, up from $1.2 trillion. That's not a small revision.

Arya projects that AI systems will expand by 100% in 2026 as new deployments really ramp up. He also expects chip vendors, including Broadcom, to pass higher memory costs on to their customers. It's a classic move to protect margins when component prices rise.

Reflecting this optimism, Arya raised his fiscal 2026 revenue estimates for Broadcom by 5% and his EPS projections by 4%. And he's not the only one feeling bullish. Cathie Wood's Ark Invest recently bought 24,205 shares of Broadcom across its ARKK and ARKQ ETFs—an investment worth about $8 million. When the disruptive-tech crowd is buying, people tend to notice.

Put it all together, and you can see why the stock was moving. Broadcom shares were up 1.17% at $329.30 in recent trading. It's a stock caught between two stories: the steady, maybe-choppy software integration and the explosive potential of AI. For now, the AI tailwinds seem to be winning the argument on Wall Street.