Zacks Issues Neutral Views on AMD, Linde, Amgen

The Zacks Research Daily for September 18, 2026 highlights three large-cap stocks—AMD, Linde and Amgen—that have each outperformed their respective industries year-to-date. AMD shares are up 154.6% versus 117.1% for the Zacks Computer - Integrated Systems industry, Linde is up 8.6% versus 5.9% for Chemical - Specialty, and Amgen is up 18.4% versus 8.7% for Medical - Biomedical and Genetics. The common thread is that all three combine strong growth drivers with notable risks, leading Zacks to a Neutral stance on each.

For AMD, the growth story centers on AI infrastructure demand, with EPYC server CPUs and Instinct accelerators gaining traction and Helios beginning its production ramp. Multigigawatt commitments from leading model developers improve visibility into AI deployments, and management expects server growth to remain elevated into 2027. However, tight supply across wafers, packaging, memory and rack components raises execution risk as Helios scales, while data center AI mix can constrain gross-margin expansion.

Linde's case rests on a resilient business model with long-term customer contracts, a sizable project backlog, and Electronics as its fastest-growing end market, supported by AI-linked semiconductor demand and new U.S. and Taiwan investments. Yet industrial demand remains uneven, with soft EMEA volumes, Middle East disruptions affecting parts of Asia, and currency variability adding risk. Amgen's growth comes from key medicines like Evenity, Repatha and Uplizna, plus newer drugs Imdelltra, Tavneos and Tezspire, offsetting declines in oncology biosimilars and Enbrel. But price declines, increased competition, and declining sales of Prolia and Xgeva due to biosimilar launches are headwinds. The outcome for all three hinges on whether their growth drivers can outpace the execution, margin and pipeline risks Zacks identifies.