Should I Buy COHU? COHU 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Cohu Inc (COHU) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Hold

Latest Price

29.090

1 Day change

-0.92%

52 Week Range

30.650

Analysis Updated At

2026/01/28

COHU is not a good buy right now for a beginner, long-term investor who wants to act immediately. While the technical trend is bullish and Wall Street has recently upgraded/raised targets on AI/HBM-related tailwinds, the combination of heavy insider selling, currently negative profitability (latest quarter), and an upcoming earnings event (2026-02-16) makes the risk/reward unattractive for an impatient long-term entry at ~$29.33. My call: HOLD (do not add new long exposure today).

Technical Analysis

Price/Trend: Bullish trend structure—moving averages are stacked positively (SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200), indicating a sustained uptrend. Momentum: MACD histogram is positive (0.0534) but ‘positively contracting,’ which often signals the up-move is losing momentum short-term. RSI: RSI_6 at 63.2 is still neutral-to-slightly-warm (not overbought), but close enough to suggest limited near-term upside without consolidation. Levels: Pivot ~28.96 is the key near-term line. Resistance is nearby at R1 ~30.22 (then R2 ~30.99). Support levels are ~27.71 (S1) and ~26.94 (S2). With price at 29.33, upside is relatively capped into ~30.2 while downside to first support is larger if sentiment shifts. Pattern-based forward read: Similar-pattern stats imply slightly negative drift over the next month (-0.73%), which aligns with ‘momentum slowing’ signals. Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals - [AI Stock Picker](module://ai_stock_pick): No signal on given stock today. - [SwingMax](module://swingmax): No signal on given stock today.

Options Data

Bullish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Sentiment: Options positioning is call-skewed (OI put/call 0.48 and volume put/call 0.05), which is bullish/optimistic. Activity/Volatility: Implied volatility is elevated (30D IV ~78, IV percentile ~86), suggesting the market is pricing meaningful upcoming moves (likely related to earnings). Today’s volume vs 30-day average is very high (~35x), signaling heightened attention/speculation. Interpretation for a long-term beginner: bullish sentiment is present, but elevated IV + event proximity often means higher drawdown risk if earnings disappoint—this reduces the attractiveness of buying shares ‘right now’ without a signal edge.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

AI/HBM exposure: Analysts frame COHU as a ‘hidden HBM play’ with structural demand drivers (HBM, CoWoS, GPUs/custom ASICs) that can support a multi-year cycle.
Technical uptrend: MA stack is clearly bullish, indicating the market has been rewarding the story recently.
Potential cyclical improvement: Commentary points to early signs of Auto & Industrial recovery and improving Taiwan demand signals.
Earnings catalyst: Next earnings (QDEC
on 2026-02-16 could validate improving demand/utilization if guidance is better than feared.

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Insider selling: Reported insider selling is sharply higher (+4176% last month), which is a major near-term confidence negative.
Profitability pressure: Latest quarter shows a net loss and declining gross margin YoY—execution/mix/cycle risks remain.
Event risk into earnings: Elevated IV and heavy options activity suggests the market expects a big move; downside gaps are possible if results/guidance miss.
Near resistance: Price is below a nearby resistance band (~30.2–31.0), increasing the odds of a stall/pullback rather than a clean breakout.

Financial Performance

Latest reported quarter: 2025/Q3. Growth: Revenue rose to $126.25M (+32.42% YoY), a clear top-line acceleration. Profitability: Net income fell to -$4.10M (more negative YoY) and EPS was -$0.09 (worse YoY). Gross margin decreased to 35.66% (down ~2.49% YoY). Takeaway: Revenue growth is strong, but margins and earnings have not yet turned—this is not the clean ‘profitable compounder’ profile that typically fits a beginner long-term buy-at-any-time approach.

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Recent trend: Ratings/targets have been improving. Needham upgraded COHU to Buy (from Hold) with a $30 target (2026-01-06). B. Riley reaffirmed Buy and raised the target to $35 from $30 (2026-01-26). Earlier in 2025, TD Cowen and B. Riley also raised targets while staying Buy. Wall Street pros: AI/HBM-driven multi-year demand, improving utilization/design wins, and potential cyclical recovery. Wall Street cons: Near-term cyclical pressure and seasonal headwinds; the bull case relies on demand translating into sustained margin/EPS improvement. Influential/political trading: No recent Congress trading data available in the last 90 days.

4 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast COHU stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for COHU is 30 USD with a low forecast of 30 USD and a high forecast of 30 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

4 Buy

0 Hold

0 Sell

Strong Buy

Current: 29.360

Low

Averages

High

Current: 29.360

Low

Averages

High

B. Riley

Craig Ellis

Buy

maintain

$30 -> $35

AI Analysis

2026-01-26

New

Reason

B. Riley

Craig Ellis

Price Target

$30 -> $35

AI Analysis

2026-01-26

New

maintain

Buy

Reason

B. Riley analyst Craig Ellis raised the firm's price target on Cohu to $35 from $30 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Despite near-term cyclical pressure, structurally strong AI-driven demand for HBM, CoWoS, GPUs, and custom ASICs continues to outstrip supply, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Improving Taiwan demand signals and early signs of an Auto & Industrial recovery point to modest 4Q25 upside and at least in-line 1Q26 guidance, with multiple long-term AI-linked growth drivers underpinning future sales and EPS expansion.

Needham

Hold

Buy

upgrade

$30

2026-01-06

Reason

Needham

Price Target

$30

2026-01-06

upgrade

Hold

Buy

Reason

Needham upgraded Cohu to Buy from Hold with a $30 price target. The firm says high bandwidth memory is transitioning from brute-force stacking to a "plethora of new innovation-based scaling." This ensures HBM "remains the king" of artificial intelligence memory for another 5-10 years, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Needham views Cohu as a "hidden HBM play."

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COHU Should I Buy

COHU Should I Buy

Should You Buy Cohu Inc (COHU) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

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